“THE ENERGETIC ONE“ – KOREAN WAR (1950–1953)
Jo Yongwoong was one year old when his family fled south by boat from North Korea to Incheon. In 1950, the North Korean army crossed the Demarcation Line and occupied Incheon, triggering the Korean War. But for Jo Yong-woong it was a time of freedom. ‘There were no adults,’ he says, ‘because the women were working in the factories and the men were at the front.’ Now elderly, this former veterinarian and economist made it to the top of his profession. His country, however, remains divided.
Meeting Yong Woong Jo today, you wouldn't think he was once a sickly child from a poor background. The 76-year-old is bubbling with energy; it's hard to keep up with him. Today, he lives near Seoul. He was originally born in North Korea - and as a 6-year-old experienced the Korean War and the division of the country firsthand.
Yong Woong Jo grew up with his mother after his family fled North Korea for Incheon in the south. His father joined the South Korean military and cared little for the family. The Korean War, which claimed nearly four million lives in three years, is most noticeable to the then 6-year-old boy in the absence of his fathers and the poverty in which he grows up. At one point, however, the conflict is right around the corner as Allied troops land in Incheon. He remembers the leaflets falling from the sky, the thunder of the warships, the subsequent military parade of U.S. and U.N. troops very clearly.
Yong Woong Jo has his godmother Naomi Middaugh to thank for the fact that he still found his childhood a wonderful time. He met his American mother, as he still calls her, through the Save the Children sponsorship program. For years, the two wrote letters to each other, later communicating via a recording device that Mrs. Middaugh gave to her Korean protégé.
The friendship across the Atlantic stretches far into adulthood. Yong Woong Jo takes messages from his godmother to heart. The poor boy becomes a successful man in leading positions in business. He never met Naomi Middaugh in person.
“EARLY SORROW, LATE HAPPINESS“
Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon continues to hope for peace for the Korean Peninsula. A peace that the war child Jo Yongwoong has found in his life.