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Posted: March 27, 2006 05:48 PM

Hawaii's Korean-American community hope to connect with loved ones
Tannya Joaquin

Hawaii's Korean-American community has new hope that families may one day be able to re-connect with loved ones left behind in North Korea.

It would be the first contact for families torn apart by war in more than 50 years.

Time has done little to ease the pain of Korean families torn apart by the Korean War.

"My father said, 'go to South Korea all by yourself,' and I said, 'no, I want to stay with you,'" recalls Reverend John Oh, Korean American.

91-year-old Reverend Samuel Lee left the north and his family in 1938.

"I know my younger sister, who was 10 years younger than I, might be living there and that's the only hope I might have of meeting old relatives," says Reverend Samuel Lee.

Hawaii Chief Justice Ronald Moon shared similar stories about his grandfather, who left behind parents and seven younger brothers.

"Since the Korean War, we have not heard from them or about them," says Chief Justice Moon.

"That situation exists for so many families," says Representative Ed Case, D-Hawaii. "My sons have direct predecessors that are probably still alive in North Korea, and yet we do not know where they are, whether they are living."

The Eugene Bell Foundation is working with 41,000 Korean-Americans in Hawaii to reunite them with lost loved ones.

Dr. Stephen Linton has been to North Korea 50 times on foundation trips.

He frequently hears pleas from divided families.

"'Can you please help me find my sister. I just want to know if she's alive in North Korea,'" says Dr. Stephen Linton, Eugene Bell Foundation.

Right now, he has to say no to such requests.

He's asking Congress to get involved to bring long suffering families answers that have eluded them for decades.

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