A Family Separated and Reunited: Two Perspectives on the Korean War

This interview with Sung Yoon’s parents is a companion piece to her interview. Reverend and Mrs. Park were separated by the start of the Korean War. He was a student in a seminary in South Korea when the war broke out, and his wife and their two children were trapped in the northern part of the country. In the winter of 1950, Mrs. Park began walking south with her four-month-old daughter strapped to her back and her four-year-old daughter holding her hand. After forty harrowing days, Mrs. Park and the children arrived at a South Korean refugee camp, where they were reunited with her husband, Reverend Park. In this interview, Reverend and Mrs. Park’s son, the younger Reverend Park, translates for his parents as they tell their story of surviving the Japanese occupation of World War II, the anxiety of their separation during the Korean War, the desperation of Mrs. Park’s trek south, and their joyous reunion. Due to an intermittent technical issue, the quality, tone, and volume of the audio track fluctuates occasionally.