Korea divided: A sister’s long wait and a defector’s bid to save his mother

New generation, same borderWhile Kang’s story symbolises the division of the Korean Peninsula, it would be wrong to think such tales only belong to an older generation of Koreans.Kim Kang-woo, 31, has also been directly affected by the division.Today, Kim lives in Siheung, a satellite city of Seoul, but he was born in Hyesan, a North Korean city on the Chinese border. At age 22, he made the biggest decision of his life: He decided to escape to South Korea.Kim left out of necessity. During his second year in high school, his father was beaten to death during an interrogation in a North Korean state security detention facility. His father had crossed into China to earn money for his family, which had fallen into poverty after the North Korean government implemented a currency reform in 2009, but after just a few months, he was caught illegally staying in China and forcibly repatriated to North Korea.Kim’s dad had been deemed a political criminal, and as his son, Kim would be barred from military service, which in North Korea meant his adult life was effectively over before it began. Those who don’t serve in the military have essentially no status in North Korean society and are subje...