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When Kim Young-nam last saw his mother 28 years ago, he was a high school boy of 17. Kidnapped by North Korean operatives on an island off North Jeolla Province, Kim, now in his 40s and balding, was reunited with his octogenarian mother Choi Gye-wol and sister Young-ja (48) at North Korea¡¯s Mt. Kumgang on Wednesday.
Kim was standing in a meeting room with his second wife Park Chun-hwa (31), his daughter Hye-gyong (19) by his first wife, the Japanese abduction victim Megumi Yokota, and Chul-bong, his seven-year-old son. He bowed when Choi, who is ailing, was wheeled into the room by her daughter.
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Choi Gye-wol holds her son Kim Young-nam at their first meeting in 28 years in North Korea¡¯s Mt.Kumgang on Wednesday.
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Choi was visibly moved, holding on to her son and weeping. Kim managed to smile and wiped his tears with a handkerchief. But North Korea gave the press access to only the first 10 minutes of the meeting. Kim's first wife Megumi Yokota, who has become a symbol in her homeland of North Korea¡¯s bizarre abduction policy in the 1970s and 80s, died by her own hand, according to Pyongyang, and her husband¡¯s reunion with his mother therefore garnered plenty of attention from the Japanese press. Kim will reportedly talk to reporters about his abduction to the North and the death of his first wife on Thursday.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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