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The story of 'that day' in history that we should not forget, 'Jang Trio' Jang Hyeon-seong, Jang Seong-gyu, and Jang Do-yeon tell the story of SBS 'The Story of Biting the Tail' (hereinafter 'Kkokomu').

For those who missed the main broadcast, or for those who have watched the broadcast but want to review its contents, SBS Entertainment News will put it all together in one room.



The story of 'that day' that I want to tell 'you' this time is the episode of '

Escape for the first time in 47 years - Cross the Black River'

, which aired on the 6th .

As story friends, Melomance Kim Min-seok, actor Jung Yi-rang, and singer Jang Ye-eun appeared. (The review is conducted in a semi-speaking mode to suit the characteristics of 'Kkokomu'.)



▲ The secret



meeting is in China on July 27, 1997, in China. .

A taxi is driving down the dirt road.

In the back seat was Kim Cheon-hong, a reporter from the SBS news agency at the time.

Reporter Kim's expression is serious.

The taxi that was running stopped in front of a shabby market, and the reporter got out of the taxi and suddenly went shopping.

He bought the full set: pants, T-shirt, slippers, and a running shirt.

But reporter Kim bought only the oldest items.

Why?

To disguise himself to hide his identity.

Reporter Kim, in shabby clothes, looked like a local.


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Reporter Kim's destination was Changbai Korean Autonomous County.

It is a place where Koreans gather, and it is very close to North Korea.

It is close to the Amnok River as a border, so the surveillance by Chinese public security is very severe.

If anything looks suspicious, you can get caught.

So I disguised myself like a local.



Reporter Kim took a taxi again and started running down the mountain road.

It was midnight and he arrived in a small town in Changbai.

I was walking down an alley looking around in the dark and stopped in front of a shabby house.

Reporter Kim carefully opened the door and made eye contact with someone in the dark.

She's a man who looks to be in his sixties and a young woman carrying a newborn baby.



"Did you come? I was waiting for you."



The man shakes his hand as he asks for a handshake.

The two presented this to reporter Kim.

It was an old ID.


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On the ID, 'Citizen's ID', 'Girl', 'Pyongyang Citizen', etc. are written on it.

Yes, these two are from North Korea.

The man's name was Lee Yong-woon, 62 years old at the time.

The woman is his daughter Ae-ran.

The newborn baby is Ae-ran's son.

It's been 100 days since I was born.

These people crossed the Yalu River to meet reporter Kim.

why?

I escaped from North Korea to meet the mother of Lee Yong-woon, who broke up on the 25th.


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But there's a problem.

There are 7 more family members in North Korea.

I'm asking you to help me escape with the entire family of these seven.

It's an almost impossible and risky plan.

A family of 10 escaped.

Even if you are lucky enough to get out of North Korea, you have no choice but to get caught in Chinese soil.

It's such a dangerous job, why did reporter Kim have to come here?

I'll tell you the story from now on.



▲ The start of the life-threatening escape



goes back 8 years and is 1989.

This is the house of Yong-Woon Lee in Hyesan, Ryanggang Province, North Korea.

Hyesan is a place where the Amnok River crosses Changbaek.


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One day, I got a message from the General Office of Koreans saying, 'Your brother is looking for comrade Lee Yong-un'.

Yongun broke up with his parents and younger brothers while evacuating to the south on the 25th of June, and he thought that his entire family had died during the war.

But he heard the news that his brother is looking for him after 40 years.



Yongun went to the Korean General Bureau in Pyongyang at once.

Please tell me where his brother lives, California, USA.

His father passed away and his mother and four younger brothers immigrated to the United States and live there.



There is another person whose heart is pounding when they hear the news.

This is Lee Yong-woon's daughter, Ae-ran.

At that time, the economic situation in North Korea was the worst.

There was no hope, with the bodies of people who died of starvation all over the place.

She thought Ms. Ae-ran might be in such a difficult situation that she might have a chance.

Her Mister Ae-ran wrote her letter to her grandmother in her United States on behalf of her father.



"I give this to my grandmother, whom I miss even in my dreams, whether I sleep or wake up. I am so happy that my grandmother and all of my family are alive. I am so happy that I cannot express it in words. My father is from Pyongyang, but he has no home and no parents. After I finished my military service, I came to live in Ryanggang Province. I want to see you before I go even one more day.


-From Ae-ran's letter to her American grandmother


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Did this letter reach the United States well?

It's been several months since I sent the letter.

When my expectations were disappointing, I finally got a reply.



"Yongwoon, it's been 40 years and it's like a dream that you're still alive. You must have cried a lot thinking that your family had abandoned you. I want to meet you as soon as possible."

-The contents of the letter from the United States This is the person who sent the


Chinese letter.




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His name is Baek Hong-yong.

He was 85 at the time.

Grandma Baek said that she had never tried to find her son.

If she's alive, she'll of course be in South Korea.

There was also a broadcast to find separated families, but to no avail.

Finally, after inquiring as far as North Korea, she finally found out about her son.

She found her son after more than 40 years, but he lives in North Korea and can't meet him.

What was her grandmother's heart?



Then one day, someone just knocked on Ae-ran's door.

When I went out, I saw a man standing there for the first time.

The man pulled something out of his arms and handed it to him.

It was a cassette tape.

What was recorded on the cassette tape?

I met the current Aeran and heard it firsthand.


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"He sent me a recording tape. So with that, I didn't know if there was a wiretapping device in our house, so we piled up three blankets and went inside and listened to it. So, come across the Yalu River together.' That's what he sent."


- In 2022, the current



grandmother of Mr. Ae-ran, Baek, will take responsibility and take him to Seoul, so he told Yong-un's family to escape from North Korea.

Upon hearing this, Ae-ran's heart raced.

He said that escaping North Korea would cost his life, but it would also be an opportunity to escape from this hopeless place.

Ae-ran said, 'If only my son could live in another world' he thought.



Grandma Baek is great too.

Since she can't see her son she's been looking for in 40 years, he's determined to get him out of there.

And the whole family.

Grandma Baek started preparing right away.

First of all, we need someone who understands the local situation to help them get out of China.

That was reporter Kim Cheon-hong.

Reporter Kim was called 'Chinese Tong' in the press.

Grandmother Baek, who got to know reporter Kim through her acquaintance, asked reporter Kim for help.



Reporter Kim knew he could kill himself if he did it wrong, but he gladly accepted her grandmother's request.

Because she herself was a separated family, so she knew the pain well.



“My older sister is also in North Korea right now. I decided that I had to defect my sister and her family. But my father died ten months before we could be contacted while trying to connect with my older sister living in North Korea. My father Lee Yong-woon's mother, Grandma Baek, was still alive. We wanted to solve the living grandmother's circle."


- Reporter Cheon-Hong Kim It



was a fateful meeting.

I know her grandmother's earnest heart better than anyone.

Reporter Kim made a plan by gathering all the connections and information he had accumulated over the years.

The preparation period is about one year.

So, reporter Kim went to Changbai and met Lee Yong-woon and his wife.



▲ The plan that was in vain, back to the north,



but why didn't the other 7 family members cross the Yalu River with Yongun?

Other families are hesitant to escape.


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First of all, let me introduce Lee Yong-woon's family.

Lee Yong-woon, his eldest daughter Ae-ran, and his young son are in Changbai.

In North Korea, Lee Yong-woon's wife, Lee Jae-gwan, has a second son, Hak-cheol, a third son, Sang-cheol, and the youngest daughter, Mi-ran.

Also Ae-ran's husband, Hak-cheol's wife, and a two-year-old son.

There are a total of 10 people in this family.



Either wait here for the family to come out of North Korea, or go back and convince them.

Now I have to make a decision.

Then, when everyone was silent, she said that she would convince her family to go back and get her out on her own.



Ae-ran prepared her to leave immediately.

She simply unpacked, and she suddenly picked up her young son and carried it.

She says she wants to go with her.

She said no, but she didn't listen.

One day at a time, she says that if she doesn't show up, she won't be able to see her son again.

She's never going to leave her son behind.

She said Ae-ran would carry her son across the Yalu River.


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The distance between Changbai, China and Hyesan, North Korea was closer than I thought.

The narrowest part of the Yalu River is only 20 meters, and the water is not too deep.

enough to cross

But the problem is the border guards along the river.

Crossing without permission could result in execution if caught.



"If you make a mistake, even commit suicide on the spot... because you have to be prepared for death."


- Mr. Lee Ae-ran ahead of his return to North Korea



on the night of July 31.

Ae-ran, carrying his son, looked carefully across the river.

The place is dark and quiet.

Aeran took a deep breath and took off his pants.

He could cross over and be caught and be suspicious if water drips from his clothes.

Ae-ran took off all of his pants and put his feet in the river, paying attention to the sound of his breathing.

When the cold water was running up to his back, his child flinched.

But that was all.

The child did not cry strangely even though his clothes were wet, and he curled up and fell asleep again.



Ae-ran finally arrived at the other side of the river.

But then, the border guards who found Ae-ran came running.

Ae-ran hurriedly put on her pants first.

Ae-ran said, "I was about to cross over to China because I had money to pay," and he begged to see him just once.

The border guards just kicked and beat Ae-ran.

And I took him to a place like an interrogation room.

Ae-ran cried and cried and hung, but it didn't work.

In an instant, something came to mind.

Ae-ran pulled something out of her bag and held it out.

It was just cigarettes and alcohol.



"Chinese cigarettes cost 35 won per pack. There are 10 packs, so I gave you two 350 won packs. Two bottles of alcohol."



Ae-ran gave him alcohol and cigarettes, so the border guards pretended they couldn't win and sent them away.

Liquor and cigarettes offered as bribes are the price of a person's life.



Reporter Kim, who was in Changbai, went out to the Yalu River as soon as the day dawned.

He's been watching the only thing across the river, anxiously, and Ae-ran has finally appeared.

Ae-ran spread out his three fingers and circled him, sending a suspicious hand signal.


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What does this mean, it's coming out on the 3rd of August.

Fortunately, I think I persuaded my family.

Finally, the promised day came, and reporter Kim went out to the riverside in broad daylight and waited for Ae-ran.

As the sun went down, Aeran appeared on the other side.

But he starts sending signals again.

Five fingers this time.

It was a plan change to come out on the 5th, not today.



It was August 5th, and reporters Kim and his party had been waiting for Ae-ran at the riverside since morning.

But no one showed up.

The next day, I went out to the river again.

After waiting for a long time, Aeran finally showed up.

But the atmosphere is weird.

He looked around for a while and looked around, then gestured.

I called the Korean-Chinese guide who was helping me with this.

That friend is a person who often crosses Changbaek-Hyesan for business, so even crossing the Yalu River did not cause much suspicion.

He crossed the river at once and approached Ae-ran.

Ae-ran carefully handed him a letter.

The letter read, "All our plans have gone awry."



Ae-ran's aunt found out about the North Korean defection plan.

Her aunt turned her house upside down when her aunt said, "I'll report it to the Security Department immediately if it moves."

Her aunt, who made a fuss around her, just took her seat and lay down.

To keep an eye on them so they don't leave.

Lee Yong-woon, who saw the letter, was troubled.

His mother, whom he found after 40 years, and his wife and children in the North.

It's a situation where you have to choose between the two.

Yongwoon Lee, who continued to smoke without a word, finally opened his mouth.



"I'll go back to the Nare Book. But I have to go to my family."



Yongwoon said he wanted to leave a greeting to his mother.

Then there is the real voice that Yongun left to his mother through reporter Kim.


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"My mother is Yongun. I came to Changbai and I can't see my mother. You are my disobedient child, mother. I will live forever in my heart. Mother. You must live a long life."



After saying goodbye to Lee Yong-woon, reporter Kim withdrew and returned to Korea.



▲ Escape, half success



A few days later, reporter Kim got an urgent call from Mr. Kim, a Korean-Chinese guide who was in Changbai.

Since his aunt, who was a stumbling block to defection, has returned home, the whole family of Yong-Woon Lee said that they would cross the Yalu River.

So, reporter Kim went back to China.



Ae-ran decided to escape again.

But the truth is, the family hasn't reached an agreement yet.

Those in favor of defection were his father Yong-un and his eldest daughter, Ae-ran.

But Ae-ran hasn't told her husband yet.

The second Hak-cheol was in favor of defecting from North Korea.

But he also couldn't tell his wife.

She's not doing this or that for fear that her wife will object.



Her mother said she would go too when her family was gone, and her youngest, Mi-ran, said she would go when her mother left.

The biggest problem is the third Sangcheol.

Sang-cheol said he would never be able to betray his country, where he was born and raised.

But he has a problem with him.

Sangcheol is quite elite.

He was the only one of his brothers to join, and he got a college recommendation and came out faster than the others.

He said that becoming a party member in North Korea guarantees a future for the country.

Sang-cheol was also engaged.

He was always in a situation where he didn't want to leave.



After much deliberation, Ae-ran decided to commit it.

He immediately contacted the Korean-Chinese guide and arranged an escape date.

A day before his escape, Mr. Ae-ran lied to his husband, saying, "Some Chinese ask me to sell rice. Can you come with me?"

The truth is, even if I tell you later, we wanted to go to China together.

Her husband went out to find out.

But my husband, who returned after 12 pm, was intoxicated and fell asleep.

It's past 2 in the morning and he can't get up no matter how much he wakes up.

Ae-ran left her sleeping husband and carried the child.

He left home and went to his parents' house with a strong determination not to be swayed by his emotions when making important decisions.


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My mother, whom I met at my parents' house, said, "I can't go."

The third is that Sang-cheol didn't come home, and he couldn't leave Sang-cheol alone.

The youngest, Miran, who was next to him, said he wouldn't go either.

The time is past 3 in the morning.

The time I promised with the Korean-Chinese guide has come.

I don't have time now.

Ae-ran was put in a situation where she had to make a choice, between her mother and her newborn son.



Ae-ran said her last goodbyes to her mother and left the house.

She chose her son.

Her younger brother Hak-cheol and her father, Yong-un, followed.

Mr. Yong-un eventually chose his mother, who had been away for over 40 years.



3:30 in the morning.

I arrived at the riverside of the Yalu River without a single light.

My heart started pounding.

I took a deep breath and started with Ae-ran.

At that time, "Stop there! Where are you going?"

They were caught by the border guards.



The indiscriminate assault continued without any excuses.

Ae-ran hugged her son tightly and thought, 'It's over.'

At that moment, a light flickers in the dark in the distance.

Seeing that, a soldier just ran towards it.

After a while, come back and say "Fly across" and just go.

How did this happen?



The soldier's hands were full of alcohol and cigarettes.

The Korean-Chinese guide who was waiting hastily took his hand.

Ae-ran's group jumped into the river without thinking.

There is a video of it at that time.

It's the world's first filmed real North Korean defection scene.


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Early morning on August 16, 1997.

Ae-ran, father Yong-un, and son Hak-cheol crossed the Yalu River, holding hands tightly so that no one would fall.

At the hiding place of Changbai that finally arrived, Mr. Yongun shed tears.

Hak-cheol's face is swollen from how much he was hit by the border guards.

Still, he sighed in relief at the thought of being alive.


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Reporter Kim felt miserable when he saw that only part of his family had passed.

It was started to reunite a mother and son who had been separated from life, but another separated family was created.

But it's already spilled.

Don't delay here any longer.



They shared a taxi and headed to Shenyang.

I have to run 700km from Changbai.

It was a scary and confusing situation, but the atmosphere in the car was full of laughter.

It was because of the 100-day-old baby.

I got out of the car and walked down the mountain road because of the checkpoint in the middle, but I arrived in Shenyang safely.

At that time, there was a special person in Shenyang.

This is Baek Hong-yong's grandmother.



▲ The old lady she met for the first time in 47 years



arrived in front of a shabby building.

And she climbed up her stairs vigorously, step by step.

Finally the door opened, and in front of her stood an old man with white hair.

He's a lost son at 16.

Grandma Baek and Yongwoon, the hat has finally met after 47 years.


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Grandma Baek embraced her son, and her granddaughter and grandson she had never seen before.

They shed tears in her grandmother's arms.

But the expression on her grandmother's face isn't very bright.

That's what her grandmother said to her weeping son.



She said, "Don't cry. Bring the kids who couldn't come out. You must never give up."



I'm worried about the daughter-in-law and grandchildren who remain in North Korea.

Her grandmother begged her to bring them back somehow.

Of course, Aeran's heart aches.

Ae-ran decided to try to convince her mother once again, and she wrote the letter with all her heart.



She said, "Mother, if we don't go this time, we're all dead. I can't go alone and I can't go. When it rains, it's over. We must hurry."



The later it is, the more dangerous.

You never know when news of North Korean defection will be announced, and when the rainy season begins, the river will blow and you will not be able to cross the Yalu River.

After sending the letter, Ae-ran was still restless.

And within a few days, I got a reply via personal message.

It was sent by the youngest, Miran.


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"To the older sister I miss. If we all leave and the house is empty. We will be found out before we even go to my father, sister, brother, grandmother. Please send your greetings as well. My sister, brother, and father all live happily there."



The answer was that he wouldn't come.

I'd rather stay in North Korea to buy time for the rest of my family to get out of China.

It was the choice of the remaining family for the departed family.

What was Aran thinking?


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"I think the rest of my family will be unhappy and miserable because I'm here. I felt guilty as if I was standing on top of their corpses and shouting hooray."



But I can't convince you or wait any longer.

I have to leave now.

Ae-ran's party took the train from Shenyang to the Sino-Vietnam border.

I crossed the border safely, went to the Korean embassy in Vietnam and completed my asylum application.

So Ae-ran's escape from North Korea ended safely.



▲ A family that finally became a whole



Reporter Kim returned to Korea with a sense of guilt for tearing up a healthy family.

But a great twist awaited.

Another call came from a Korean-Chinese guide from China, and I received a call saying, "The Lee Yong-woon family has crossed the Yalu River."

How did this happen?



Reporter Kim flew back to China.

The youngest, Mi-ran, the third Sang-cheol, Hak-cheol's wife and son, and his mother, Lee Jae-gwan.

Everyone went to China.

But not everyone's expressions look comfortable.

The eyes of suspicion and vigilance are evident.


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A week ago, in Hyesan, North Korea, Sang-cheol, who had not come home for several days, suddenly appeared.

Then I said, "Mom, we'll go too."

Sang-cheol, who stubbornly refused to defect, changed his mind.

Would the authorities leave him alone if it became known that his family had fled North Korea?

The dark future was clear, so I decided to just leave.

But this time, my mother said she won't go.

The reason was that he was worried about his parents.


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“When I thought about how much damage my sister and brother would suffer, I really had no intention of leaving. I didn't know what to do."


- Mr. Lee Yong-woon's wife, Jae-gwan Lee,



another dilemma.

You have to choose between your family and your children.

In the end her mother chose her children.

The Yongun family, who remained in North Korea, crossed the Yalu River together.

But even after crossing the Yalu River, I am still anxious and confused.

There is also the guilt of betraying the country and the fear of going to Korea, an unknown, unfamiliar land.

Sang-cheol drank alcohol and poured out his resentment, and then had a big fight with his mother.



The saddest thing about her is Hak-cheol's wife.

she just keeps crying

She didn't know anything and she followed her in-laws.

She thought she was going to see her grandmother for a moment, but she didn't know until she crossed the Yalu River that she was going to Korea.

She has been separated from her family in the North.

But she had no choice but to accept it.

Every moment is a series of resentment and conflict.

At this rate, I wonder what it means to go to Korea.



Just then, her old grandmother appeared.

She came to China after a month to visit her daughter-in-law and her grandchildren.

The mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law, who met for the first time, hugged each other and burst into tears.


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Watching this, Sangcheol also shed tears.

Surprisingly, since that day, like a lie, the whole family has regained stability.

Sang-cheol said, "This is the bond of blood and flesh."



The people who were most delighted with the news of Sang-cheol's escape from North Korea were, of course, the families who came first.

The family has become whole again.



"At that time. I am grateful for everything in the world. I was so naked that I had nothing to envy even if I threw him out that winter. I was so grateful to have a family. It was the best gift in the world."


-The present Mr. Ae-Ran Lee



▲ Why it can't be a perfect happy ending



December 30, 1997, Seoul, Korea.

All of Lee Yong-woon's family gathered in one place.

This is the moment to put an end to the 150-day North Korean defector drama.

There was also Grandma Baek, who changed the fate of the family.


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From that day on, Ae-ran worked harder than anyone else for her son.

He worked as a hotel janitor, insurance agent, and now a culinary researcher.

The newborn baby, who was carried on his back when crossing the Yalu River, became a full-fledged college student in his 20s.

He says he is working hard like any other youth in Korea.

The third Mr. Sang-cheol and the fourth Mr. Mi-ran also found a job and started a family.

It is said that Grandma Baek and Lee Yong-woon, who met for the first time in 47 years, spent the rest of their lives happily sharing their special love for their mother and father.



But there is a reason why the choice of the day cannot have a happy ending.


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"My brother was deported. Because of me, he was deported to Hanji, homeless in February. I came here to live well. It hurts."

-Mother


, Mr. Lee Jae-gwan, reporter Kim Cheon-hong, said he gave up on bringing his sister from the north.



Because my sister's children got married and I have a family.

Because I couldn't create another pain of separation, I gave up altogether.


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"25 years ago when I did that program and now. Nothing has changed. Indifference or others, this seems to have gotten

worse


.



The official number of separated families is 47,000.

67% of the survivors of separated families in North and South Korea are those in their 80s or older, and about 3,000 people die every year.



Why did Grandma Baek and Lee Yong-woon's family have to risk their lives to meet?

Because it's family.

Perhaps the most miraculous relationship among the many relationships you make in your life is your family.


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What do you think of 'today' when you heard the story of 'that day'?



(SBS Entertainment News reporter Kang Seon-ae)