It was three decades ago, when Lee was in her thirties.Through a DNA test, Son was able to prove that she was her father's daughter - which was essential for her to file for his unpaid wages from South Korea.
In years since, three South Korean presidents have met North Korean leaders, but the prisoners of war were never on the agenda. After work, he would tell his children stories of his youth. "There will be a medal for me, and you will be treated as children of a hero," he would say.Son Myeong-hwa still clearly remembers her father's last words on his deathbed nearly 40 years ago.
Three suitcases were needed.
Eight years ago, Choi abandoned her family and fled to the South.Son defected in 2005. "If you get to go to the South, you've got to carry my bones with you and bury me where I was born.
Release date: 15 March 2020. "If you get to go to the South, you've got to carry my bones with you and bury me where I was born. ""We were so sad to be born the children of the prisoners, and it was even more painful to be ignored even after coming to South Korea," Son said.In 2004, Lee managed to defect to South Korea. The … "If I sleep it means more videos get out there."South Korea largely forgot its prisoners of war.
Little had been done to help the old prisoners of war get home.Such status was hereditary, so their children were not allowed to receive higher education or the freedom to choose their occupation.Lee's father was one of about 50,000 former prisoners of war who were kept in the North at the end of the Korean war.
Two of Son's friends came along, but it was Son who carried her father's skull.Choi's father is now dead. "No matter how hard she tries, Lee cannot recall what happened after three shots were fired by the executioners who killed her father and brother. Even if they manage to escape to the South, the children of prisoners of war are not officially recognised, and many of the unrepatriated prisoners were considered dead, or discharged during the war, or simply missing.But Lee's brother, while drinking with friends one day, let slip the things their father would say. Security officers had dragged her to a stadium in a remote village in North Korea called Aoji. He wanted UN forces to help him reunite the country under South Korea.
BBC News Korean "I felt that taking a break is a sin," she says. Lee's father harboured a dream of going home one day, when the country was reunited again. Both Lee's father and brother worked at coal mines, where fatal accidents were a regular occurrence. Two of Son's friends came along, but it was Son who carried her father's skull.Choi's father is now dead. "They tied them to stakes, calling them traitors of the nation, spies and reactionaries," Lee told the BBC in an interview recently. That's why I abandoned my son, my daughter and my husband. Her siblings in the North were sent to political prisons.Boris Johnson says it is up to individuals to decide where to travel as he hints at further restrictions.He told Son: "It is so bitter to die here without ever seeing my parents again.
Some were killed.
In a matter of months, Lee's father and brother were dead.Only a handful of prisoners of war who managed to escape to the South ever received unpaid wages, and those who died in captivity in the North were not eligible for any compensation.Specially curated playlists on BBC SoundsA crowd swelled and a truck pulled up, and two people were escorted off the truck.
"In January, Son and her lawyers filed a constitutional court case, arguing that the families of the prisoners who died in the North had been treated unfairly and that the government had done nothing to repatriate the prisoners, making it responsible for the prisoners who never came back.Soon South Korea largely forgot the men. It was then that she realised her father's error - his country did not see him as a hero. ""We were so sad to be born the children of the prisoners, and it was even more painful to be ignored even after coming to South Korea," Son said.In 2004, Lee managed to defect to South Korea.