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A German woman who spent the last 47 years apart from her North Korean husband has been reunited with him in Pyongyang after authorities in the North allowed her to visit. It was the first time North Korea has given such a permit to a foreign national.
Renate Hong said goodbye to her husband in 1961, the same year the Berlin Wall was built to divide Germany and North Korean students in East Germany were called back home. Her husband was forced to leave but they promised to reunite.
Renate, pregnant with her second child and taking care of their 10-month-old son, took that promise seriously, attempting throughout the years to locate and contact him.
The two were finally able to meet for the first time since their separation. Now, after a 12-day reunion in Pyongyang, she is back in Frankfurt with her two sons Peter Hyunchul and Ubbe, both in their late 40s.
Things started to look up for a reunion two years ago, when German and Korean media picked up her story. By February of last year the Korean Red Cross confirmed that Hong Ok-gun was alive and was remarried with two sons and a daughter.
With her story becoming more of an international issue, help came from UN chief Ban Ki-moon and the German Foreign Office. Through that influence, the North Korean Red Cross invited Renate and her sons to Pyongyang, where they and Hong toured the city and visited a nearby mountain resort.
Renate Hong says her heart broke upon leaving her husband behind, but she now knows that a reunion is a dream that can come true through perseverance.
Arirang News
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