For many students at Wesleyan, North Korea is only known as a repressive society that has been arbitrarily designated as a member of the Axis of Evil. On Thursday evening, Helie Lee went beyond this formulaic view in her lecture by describing the human anguish suffered by her family as a result of the brutal reign of Kim Jong Il.
Lee personified the suffering of North Koreans by retelling her first encounter with an uncle caught on the wrong side of the Yalu River.
“He wore a droopy Lenin cap and a worn tank-green Mao jacket,” Lee said. “Everything was hanging off his bony structure. His clothing was threadbare. The worst thing was not that he was freezing cold or desperately hungry but that in his eyes and body language, he looked absolutely terrified.”
An American born of Korean parents, Lee spent most of her hour-long lecture detailing her family’s efforts to make contact with her estranged uncle, Lee Yong Woon. Based on her memoir “In the Absence of Sun”, Ms. Lee’s story chronicled the pervasive denial within her family about the existence of her uncle as well as the efforts made by her grandmother, “Halmoni”, to surreptitiously contact him.
“The pain of losing [Lee Yong Woon] was so deep, my family did not mention his name for 41 years,” Lee said. “All during that time, my grandmother was always writing letters; letters to embassies, diplomats or anyone that might be able to get her lost son back.”
In a deliberate and sometimes rambling manner, Lee went on to explain how her family was contacted by a Chinese smuggler who arranged for their agonizing family reunion. Throughout the narrative she detailed the anguish of Halmoni as she got closer to realizing her dream of reuniting with her son.
Rather than describing the harrowing ordeal by which her family was able to extract her uncle and eight other relatives, however, Lee requested that those interested in learning more should purchase her book.
In spite of this letdown, audience members enjoyed learning more about what actually happens behind the DMZ.
“I’m from South Korea and I was educated about North Korea and we are taught about how really bad it is there,” said Inchal Bae ’08. “But that is just a concept in textbooks. She really helped by describing the situation descriptively.”
“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Emily Wang ’08. “I was interested in hearing about her family and learning about the personal aspects of her experience.”
Lee, a Los Angeles native, also provided information about the current situation in North Korea as well as her experiences growing up in a predominantly white community.
“Back then we were called Oriental,” Lee said. “We were slanty eyed. We had yellow skin which made me think of urine. All of this really made me hate who I was.”
While this identity crisis contributed to an unhappy youth, Lee was motivated by her perceptions to find out more about her history from sources other than the television show “M.A.S.H.”
Speaking before a predominantly Asian-American audience in the Memorial Chapel, Lee ended her talk by taking questions, most of which revolved around the current state of the Korean situation. Among the subjects touched upon was the famine that plagued the North Korean population during the 1990s when between four and seven million people died. While uncertain about the future of her homeland, Lee said that a reunited Korea would need help from more than just the United States and South Korean governments.
“It will take people with a Korean face but an American heart to correct the mistakes of the older generation,” she said.
Her talk influenced at least one person in the audience.
“After hearing her speak, I realize that as a Korean, I should go to North Korea and do my part in making reunification possible,” Bae said.
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