Doh Kuk Kim was born on May 10th, 1941 in Sariwon, Hwanghae Province, North Korea. Growing up in Sariwon, he recollects a childhood filled with fond memories of friends, with whom he’d often climb nearby Jeongban Mountain to pick and eat azaleas, which grew in abundance up and down the mountainside. In first grade, he was designated the class president after dragging his neighborhood friends to school, encouraging them to register for classes; they’d start the days off by counting off in Russian. He’d come home from school to a loving father from whom he feels as though he received a “lifetime of love,” being the youngest child in the family. During the January Fourth Retreat, Kim, with his mother and a few siblings, left Sariwon for Seoul with the intent to return after a week, but as fighting continued, the separated family found itself living in the South with no hope of return. Kim, who realizes that by now the siblings he left in North Korea would have had children and families of their own, wishes for nothing but for them to remain healthy so that he might see them one day, on the soil of his hometown."
This interview was filmed on July 30th, 2023 in Suwanee, GA.
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CREDITS
Interviewer + Videographer: Paul Kyumin Lee @paulkyuminlee
Editor: Julian Kim @julian_pg
Production Manager: Kimberly Young Sun @kimberlyyoungsun
Executive Producer: HJ Lee
Translator: Esther Kang
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