Healing HeARTs interviewed a South Korean woman, Mrs. Jung Ja. The focus of the interview was to learn about her lived experiences both during and after the Korean War, which began on June 25, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea over the 38th parallel. North Korea was supported by the Soviet Union and China, and South Korea by the United Nations, primarily by the United States. The War lasted three years until the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on July 27, 1953. Since then, the Korean peninsula remains divided into North Korea and South Korea along the Military Demarcation Line.
Mrs. Jung Ja was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1941, making her age 9 when the Korean War broke out. She has experience fleeing to other regions for safety during the War, witnessing deaths and living in constant fear of dying or losing her loved ones. After the Armistice was signed, Mrs. Jung Ja studied Western painting at the Seoul National University and lived as an artist. She is also a mother of three children.
Included below is an English translation of our conversation with Mrs. Jung Ja. While the interview was conducted fully in Korean, upon reviewing the transcript, we have reached the consensus to make this gallery space available for her very words to be heard and known in entirety. Thus, we have translated our conversation with her into English and are offering this very space for you to engage with her, her very own words and stories in the most direct way possible. Please feel free to read through the conversation in your own pace and listen to the audio recording of an original music, composed and performed by the Healing HeARTs musician, Sophie Paek, on the cello with the aim of expressing the aura she felt of Mrs. Jung Ja from conversing with her.

[Please find below is the English translation of our conversation with Mrs. Jung Ja, followed by the originally composed music.]


Sophie Paek (Interviewer): Ok, let us get started. Hi.

Jung Ja (Interviewee): Hi.

SP: Yes, thank you so much for sharing your time. This interview is about conversing with you and learning about your stories and experiences, so there are no right or wrong answers. So I will be asking you some questions to get our conversation going, and I will be grateful if you could share as much as you remember and would like. Given your age range, I understand that you have experienced the Korean War. I understand it has been a while, but I would really appreciate it if you could think back at your experiences and share with me what it was like for you during that time.

JJ: Yes, so I was ten years old at that time, so I don’t think I knew a lot at that time.

SP: I see. Well, just to help us get started, would you please introduce yourself?

JJ: I am 81 years old. My name is Im Jung-Ja.

SP: Where and when were you born?

JJ: I was born in Seoul, 1941.

SP: Could you please introduce your family?

JJ: Do you mean my family during the Korean War? There were my mother, father, older brother, older sister, and myself.

SP: When the Korean War broke out, you were ten years old. How was your childhood during that time?

JJ: I was in my house.

SP: Yes.

JJ: On the day the Korean War broke out, the North Korean People’s Army crossed over the 38th parallel ("38선") into South Korea. So in Seoul, we constantly heard the cannon booming from the early morning of the 28th day of the month, and on the radio, they would announce how far the North Korean People’s Army made it into South Korea. It rained that morning. This was our first time experiencing anything like this in our entire lifetimes, but they said we have to flee so we packed up and left our home. I was little at the time, so I packed all of my important things in a small backpack. Our home was in Seoul which at the time was mostly north of the Han River unlike today, so we had to cross the River to go to the south. So we walked towards the River. There was heavy rain at dawn, it was dark, but a lot of people came out to flee. But before we even made it to Han River, we heard that the bridge at the River collapsed. Back then, there weren’t as many bridges over the Han River as there are today. I think at that time there was just that one bridge. Since they said the bridge collapsed, my family came back home. Then that morning, we heard that the North Korean People’s Army came into Seoul.

SP: So you couldn’t flee and ended up returning home because the Han River bridge collapsed.

JJ: Right, we couldn’t flee.

SP: Then about the North Korean People’s Army?

JJ: Well, because the Han River bridge collapsed…They purposely destroyed the bridge to prevent the North Korean People’s Army from crossing it to come to the South, but as a result of that, many of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces (now South Korean army) couldn’t cross it either. Many of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces couldn’t cross it, some got taken captive, and some died. So both the Republic of Korea Armed Forces and citizens couldn’t flee.

SP: So this all happened without any warnings or anticipation, right?

JJ: Right, very abruptly.

SP: When you first heard that the War broke out, what was that like for you?

JJ: It was my first time experiencing anything like this. I was scared, and I didn’t know what was what. We were going to flee but couldn’t, then we faced the North Korean People’s Army. They stormed into Seoul, and how frightening they were. For us, they were frightening. Day and night, they would rush into our homes anytime. They went into any homes. At that time, we had to hide our father and brother, because they would take them away.

SP: As in they would take them captive?

JJ: That’s right, because they would take them captive to their Army. They would rush into our home at night. There’s a knife attached at the end of a long gun. You probably haven’t seen anything like it. They would bring a long gun with a sword attached at the end. They would jab with that into our ceiling, the floor, and threaten us to give up our people and family who were hiding. At that time, there was a tatami room in our home made during the Japanese colonial period, so there was some empty space under the floor in that space.

SP: So was it possible to hide people in that space?

JJ: Right, when you layer off the tatami flooring, people could hide under the room. I don’t know if they (North Korean People’s Army) knew about that, but they would jab into the floor too. They would also jab into our flower garden to catch people hiding in it. So it was very terrifying.

SP: So I am hearing fear.

JJ: Terrifying fear. Yes, completely. You’ve probably never experienced a world like that. And at that time, they would capture and take away famous people, the people with big names. Some died as they got dragged away into the North, some were taken to the North.

SP: Yes.

JJ: Sometimes when they were dragging those people away towards the North, they would shoot them to death. They would break ground, line the people up and shoot them, and their families would come to find them. But their faces were painted black, like the kind of black paint used in road works, so the families couldn’t identify them even when they made it to their loved ones. The Army would tie those people up, line them up, and they died, shot to death. Some people were lucky. They would get laid under the dead people, and avoid getting shot and as a result survive. So my goodness, how fearful and horrific is that.

SP: Yes, that is a lot.

JJ: You couldn’t go outside the front door. My mother would hide my father and my brother, and the People's Army would tell her to come out to work during the day. So the mothers were exploited for labor, to work in building big roads for the North Korean army.

SP: So it’s exploitation of labor.

JJ: Right. Mothers carrying dirt, carrying stones. They carried them in a basket. They would be called during the day to work. And at that time, there was no one on the streets, so it was scary. People didn’t even walk on the streets. Meanwhile, an American military plane called B29 came and dropped bombs on the city every day. The People's Army was occupying the important buildings in Seoul. That's why American planes came and bombarded the city every day. Back then, people like grandfathers liked that. They couldn’t even go outside, but would ask them through the windows to chase down the People’s Army (North Korean Army).

SP: So they liked the American military coming?

JJ: Right. They were happy to see planes coming, but the truth is, it was all bombing.

SP: It seems that all the places where ordinary people live are being bombed.

JJ: Right. They bombed saying they were destroying the buildings where the People's Army was located, but the ordinary people would get hit and hurt just for being on the road. My house was very close to the army headquarters, so when they dropped bombs on the army headquarters, they flew into debris around my house so we had to run away. People would get hit by the shards on the roads and die. My goodness.

SP: Then, someone in the family could get hurt or…

JJ: Fortunately, my family didn't get hurt. People who were wealthy in the neighborhood but weren’t very much liked by others were called the “red gangsters” (“빨갱이”). The people who took sides with the People’s Army (North Korean Army) were first killed in the neighborhood.

SP: So please remind me how old were you when all this happened?

JJ: I was ten years old then.

SP: And that is a very young age.

JJ: Right.

SP: It would have been very difficult for that young of a child to hear and witness all of this.

JJ: I remember it like this [facial expression full of horror], because it was terrifying.

SP: Yes.

JJ: There is “Restoration of Seoul on September 28” (“9.28서울수복”). There is “Incheon Landing Operation” (“인천상륙작전”) where General MacArthur of the U.S. Army drove troops to Seoul from Incheon and occupied Seoul. And as they continued to attack north, the South Korean military pushed up to the “Alu River” (“압록강”) in the winter of that year.

SP: I see.

JJ: But the Chinese army helped the People's Army and attacked our army again, pushing it south again. So winter came, it was cold, and we had to evacuate again. At the onset of the Korean War on June 25th, we couldn't evacuate, but since we had lived through the terrifying world when we stayed at home that time, we told ourselves that this time we had to go. People packed their bags and those who were well-off bought a truck to go to Busan (a city in the southern region of the country). For our family, it was very difficult for our mother and father to leave the house. It's hard to leave your house and all your possessions behind and just go. So that's why we couldn't flee earlier. We should have taken the train or something, but we were one of the last people to buy a “carriage” (“마차”) pulled by a horse and loaded a lot of luggage in the back and left. At that time, it was a cold winter and the Han River was frozen solid. We couldn't cross the Han River because the bridge was blown up in the summer. With the river being frozen, we now had to walk on the surface of the frozen ice to escape. We went on foot. We didn't have any clothes like a parka like we do now. There was no such thing as furry shoes. So we walked in only rubber shoes (“고무신”) and since we didn’t have clothes like the ones we wear these days, so we only wore very thin clothes, maybe a sweater. We were walking wearing only those, so how cold our feet must have been.

SP: It’s in the middle of winter, so it must have been really cold.

JJ: It's mid-winter, so we just wore cotton pants and cotton jeogori (“저고리”). Clothes we have today didn’t exist back then. No warm winter clothes.

SP: To where did you flee to on foot?

JJ: It’s walking as much as we can on foot even if it’s as little as 100 Li (“100 리” = 40 km (distance)). If it's too hard on the way, people would throw away all their luggage, and some people would even leave their children on the roads. And those children would be left crying on the roadsides. A tragedy. It’s an absolute tragedy. As we walked the streets, there would be empty houses. So we would go into those houses and sleep at night. We would eat food like the kimchi (“김치” (a Korean food)) that was left behind in those houses, and cook the rice that was there. We got by like that.

SP: So food, clothing and shelter were all very unstable.

JJ: Right, nothing. Nothing was being sold, there was nothing. So you go to an empty house and just eat whatever is in that empty house. Because everyone in that house had fled. When you go to an empty house in the countryside, you eat all the food left there by the people who used to live there. At night, the room isn't even that big, but hundreds of people sit together in it, unable to sleep all night. The room isn't even that big in the countryside. The rooms in the old thatched houses (“초가집”) were not that big, the old houses were small and narrow in width. However, the room is an ondol room (“온돌방”), in the countryside, so when you turn on the fire in the ondol room, the room gets warm. So in the small room, tens of people would sit crammed with each other, unable to sleep, just to get by at night. Getting your clothes washed is not an option, you just wear what you wear and wash your face, and that's it.

SP: That’s really unimaginable.

JJ: Right, in today’s Korea, it’s unimaginable. People these days don’t know.

SP: Right.

JJ: Yes, people these days don’t know this.

SP: Right, so eating three delicious meals a day at that time was clearly impossible.

JJ: Impossible to eat three meals a day.

SP: And living in my own comfy home was beyond imagination.

JJ: Yes. Our family wasn’t even poor. We were well-off. Of course we used to eat well and live well, but we still had to flee. We were only able to make it to Anseong (“안성”). It’s in Gyeonggi-do (“경기도”) (which is a region adjacent to Seoul, her original home). Others got on the train first, those who went by truck made it to Busan (“부산”), and the People's Army almost went all the way to Daegu (“대구”- city in southern Korea, near Busan). While they invaded Daegu, the president had already fled into Busan, but the ordinary people and citizens were struggling like this.

It took a lot for us to walk, but we made it only to Anseong (“안성”- city not too far from Seoul). It's close to Seoul, in Gyeonggi-do. And there we met the UN forces, but the Chinese Communist Army came down to where we were. The Chinese Communist Army broke in and both the People's Army and the Chinese Communist Army asked us to cook for them. We didn’t even speak the same language, so we didn’t even understand each other. But they would carry around dry rice and eat it. So they asked us to cook for them because they were so hungry, so we cooked for them. The people in the Chinese Communist Army were not vicious, they just ate and left quietly.

SP: Was there some fear though? To have people suddenly come into your house and have to cook for them?

JJ: It's scary. First of all, we initially lived without even seeing the National Army. Looking around, we only saw police. But the cops in the neighborhood are nice because they're part of our same neighborhood. But we never saw soldiers, so it's scary for them to come into our house so suddenly wearing military uniforms. And because they are foreign soldiers, they also spoke foreign languages, not ours, so.

SP: I see.

JJ: And UN forces were coming up again. Trucks full of foreign soldiers.

SP: Foreign soldiers?

JJ: People with such big noses, foreigners. We saw foreigners for the first time in our lives, so how scary that was. Now that I think about it, since it was the UN military, it was such a diverse group of ethnicities. Soldiers from the United States, Ethiopia, Europe, Africa and more. The first foreign soldiers we saw appeared in green military uniforms in green trucks, and we went out to the streets with the Taegeukgi (“태극기”- Korean flag) in our hands waving it. We were welcoming them, because they were coming to save us. We went out on the street, grabbed the Taegeukgi and waved it for them.

SP: So it sounds like things were unstable in that day and age, having to evacuate a lot, and suddenly other people coming in from abroad. Might there have been possibilities for becoming ill, suffering mental damage, or any health problems in general from the many changes?

JJ: At that time, it was so cold, hungry, and without clothes, but there wasn’t much falling ill. People survived alright. There were a lot of people who died from bombing, there were a lot of people who were killed or injured by planes dropping bombs at the time. At that time, maybe because the population wasn't very big and we evacuated with the houses scattered apart, there weren’t many people getting ill or diseased. It was until later, a while after that time period that people fell ill.

SP: I see, that’s interesting that it happened afterward. And after evacuating to Anseong, when did you return home?

JJ: The UN forces came up again, crossed the 36th parallel, advanced north and pushed the People's Army up, so they came to Seoul around March, and the UN forces recaptured Seoul. It was in the midst of summer. So even though it was hot, our family walked extensively to the Han River, again on foot. The water of the Han River was melted back then, because it was summer. So we had to cross the Han River there, but we had to cross it by boat. There are people called boatmen (“뱃사공”), who row and pass people by boat. But because there were so many people trying to cross the river, the boatmen could not get everyone across by boat. So a rope had to be attached to the boat and people had to cross the Han River holding and pulling onto that rope. Adults would hold the rope and hold each other's hands, and children come with adults riding their horses and cross the Han River in a row. The current was strong that everyone could have been swept away by it, but we all held each other very firmly and crossed the River. However, the American military was guarding the River, shooting their guns so people other than the North Korea’s People’s Army couldn't cross over. But the truth is, ordinary people were put at risk as a result. So we had to dodge the guns fired by the US soldiers called US MPs in order to come over and across the Han River.

SP: So were they shooting just about anyone?

JJ: Right, they would shoot anywhere for the most part, because they were trying to prevent people from crossing over the River into the South. So you have to avoid getting shot to cross over. Through all the waters to cross over. My goodness. So that’s how we made it back to our house in Seoul. When I came back to Seoul then, so many of the houses were empty, because the people had evacuated and hadn’t come back yet. We couldn’t even go to school, buildings in downtown Seoul were all destroyed by bombs, and it's just, oh, oh, oh, extremely appalling. Really.

SP: Wow, I see. After you returned to Seoul, how much longer did it take to sign the armistice?

JJ: As far as I know, we had 3 years of war at that time. So it started in 1950 and ended in 1953, so it must have been 3 years. But thanks to the UN forces, we didn’t become a communist country and got our Korea back. The 38th parallel in Korea divided the country into North and South, but Japan had invaded Korea before (before the Korean War). So after Japan collapsed and left Korea, it was divided by the 38th parallel, with the Soviet Union in the north and the United States in the south. And that’s when the Korean War broke out, when the US was in control. So the armistice was signed on the 38th parallel line (“38도선). After that, the North remains a communist country (“공산국가”) and the South a liberal democracy (“자유민주주의 국가”).

SP: So, a truce was signed, which I would think is somewhat better than being in the middle of a war, but it's still not the end of the war.

JJ: Right, it’s on pause, not over.

SP: That’s right. So how did you take in that fact? Because it’s not the end of the war, and more like “Let’s pause for now.”

JJ: The general public doesn't know what it is. I just knew that peace had come. At that time, the general public didn’t know what a truce was and so forth. I knew about it after I became an adult.

SP: I see. Then after the war, when were you able to go back to school?

JJ: I think I went to school after about a year or so. I couldn’t go to school right away and I couldn’t go to the school I used to go to. My school was all occupied by the US military. They had occupied all schools, elementary schools, and high schools. Because the soldiers had nowhere to go, they stayed at the schools as military bases or places of residence.

SP: So they were using the buildings.

JJ: Right. So I walked to a school that was a bit far away. I went to school here and there, and later I was able to attend a school in my neighborhood.

SP: I see. So the year after the war, were you going to elementary school or was it middle school?

JJ: Elementary school. Third grade.

SP: So you were starting school, and how was it after the armistice was signed?

JJ: It was living the way we used to.

SP: Was it alright?

JJ: Since then, we’ve been like this.

SP: But also I’d assume some things were in ruins?

JJ: Oh, it's a very big thing, when the Korean War broke out, when the soldiers in our country were not so well armed. The North Koreans came to war with themselves well-prepared and well-armed. For us, the war broke out when our soldiers couldn't even shoot well and weren't ready for anything.

SP: Because it all happened so suddenly.

JJ: Yes, the Korean War broke out overnight, so there were “student soldiers” (“학도병”) who said “Let’s go out and fight.” So young students who were only 17, 18, and 19 years old left to join the military. But at that time, there were not many guns, no guns, and they didn't even know how to shoot, so they would train for only a month and then be assigned to the front line. How terrifying must that be. It’s no fight. Many student soldiers died, many were wounded. Many of those poor students died.

SP: So, this was a very, very, very difficult experience beyond imagination, right? Especially since it happened when you were so young. Now, if we think about your time a little bit into the future, do you think the war you experienced as a child affected your youthful years after the war or your life?

JJ: Well, maybe not that far, I don't know. Because I was young. After that, when we found out that someone was taken to the north, or if someone died in the military or was killed by the bombings, we would think that our family could have suffered those wounds. But fortunately, none of that had happened to us. At that time, 17-year-olds, these young people were taken to the north into the People’s Army and died, and there are still people who were dragged to the north and never returned. I also heard that the young people who were taken to the North, and the South Korean soldiers who did not die after being taken prisoner by the North, would live very hard lives doing forced labor.

SP: All of these are shocking stories to me. But a lot of the younger generation and most people don't know as extensively about war as you do. What do you think they don't know? What do you think they should understand as you actually experienced the war?

JJ: How frightening the communist party is and how there is no such thing as a good life under the communist party. On a very basic level, there's nothing to eat. Look at how happy we are now, enjoying and living without lacking as much. But that’s not the case with the communist party. They take it all away and that’s it. Perhaps it’s because the young people of today haven’t experienced it themselves or they’re not very aware of the communist party, but it’s said that more people are becoming fond of the North or even praising the North. They say it’s mostly the people who have never been to the War or experienced it themselves who do that. Only older people are very patriotic now. I think Korea is a bit chaotic these days.

SP: Right, so having experienced the War, what do you think is important in life? Or what has changed for you?

JJ: Freedom is such a good thing. It’s freedom. You can't live without freedom. Liberal democracy is important. People in the North oppress everything, take everything away, so there is no freedom. “Freedom" is the most important thing. In Korea's liberal democracy, here you can do anything you want and you can achieve anything.

SP: Today is a very different world from the days of the War.

JJ: That’s right. There are so many people who keep escaping from the North to come to the South. They can't eat, they can't wear clothes, they don't have freedom, so these days they escape and come to Korea.

SP: Yes, because there is less freedom in North Korea than in South Korea.

JJ: People who came to South Korea like it very much. They come and see it and say they didn't know that South Korea was such a good place.

SP: That’s right. So you have been through the War, a time when there was no freedom, as well as the present world. As you live these years, when there are difficult things in the present, could you talk about how do you endure or solve them?

JJ: It’s about letting nature take its course. It’s about persevering when things are difficult. It’s about persevering and enduring, waiting while believing that one day a good day will come. But the difficulties we face nowadays are personal, financial difficulties or things like that.

SP: Yes, not something happening all across the country.

JJ: There are times when people personally face financial difficulties. Back in the days, there were also times when it wasn’t the war, but there was also the “4.19.” Dr. Lee Seung Man (“이승만 박사”) became the first president, but soon after, students got up and rejected the government, claiming it a fraudulent election, and succeeded in creating a new government. The students and the people, the citizens, all rose together. After that, the 5.16 Park Chung-hee regime was established. It was a military regime, and at that time, students rose up as a democratic student movement, and started a movement against the revolutionary military government. The country went through 4.19 when I was in the third year of high school and after entering college, I met the Park Chung-hee military regime.

SP: A military government?

JJ: It's the confusion you feel when you have a coup. We lived in chaos.

SP: It’s a series of trials and tribulations and confusion.

JJ: I've lived quite a bit in chaos. Then there was chaos in the Chun Doo-hwan regime. During the Park Chung-hee regime, Korea was at a very poor and difficult time to live, but factories were built, highways were laid, industries were started, and the industrial revolution began. As General Park Chung-hee became president, those who disliked and opposed the military regime were taken into prisons. But as the general public began living economically well, he is said to be the president who improved the country the most and now is recognized for that.

SP: I see. If we could now come a bit closer to the present day, could you tell me how would you express yourself? As in “This is who I am.”

JJ: Although I have been through all this, I am a good, ordinary citizen. And because I have been through such a generation, it’s amazing to have lived this far.

SP: So do you feel that life is a great thing?

JJ: Right. We’ve lived a long time now, and we want our young generations to live well in the future. You know there are a lot of young, really young people right now. So I’m really hoping that this country does not move towards turning into a bad one. Really hoping it becomes a good free country. Our country is a bit complicated these days. There is an election in March next year, and that will decide whether the current system will continue or whether it will change and become a true free democracy. It will be decided in this election. All the old people worry a lot. Not all people think the same. There are people like this, and there are people like that. There are still a lot of people who are on the other side.

SP: Right, it’s not possible that the whole country will always come together on one side.

JJ: The country is divided and we have to unite them into one place, but everyone has a different idea. Except for people who like this kind of thing,

SP: Right. It’s tough. Well, let us rewind a little now. How is your health these days?

JJ: My health is not good. I have had kidney failure since 17 years ago, so I get hemodialysis. I go to the hospital three times a week and do hemodialysis for four hours. I’ve been through a lot, so my health isn't very good now.

SP: I see, it must be hard. There are difficulties in relation to your health, and you’ve also been through some difficult times in the past. Are there any hobbies you enjoy these days?

JJ: I don’t really have any hobbies, I used to draw and paint, but nowadays, I'm just living my life without much fun [with laugh].

SP: Okay [with laugh]. Then let’s now go forward into the future a little bit. How would you like to be remembered by your family?

JJ: I can't say that I was great as a parent, but from my end, I can say that I did my best. I am a bit sorry that I wasn’t in such good health, but that I tried very hard to live upright and honestly.

SP: That’s not always easy. So it’s something to be really proud of. Our interview is now nearing the end, so if you could describe your life in one sentence or one word, how would you like to describe it? And I said one sentence, but a few sentences are fine.

JJ: Oh, how would I describe it? I lived really hard. That’s it. I lived eagerly and passionately. (“아 어떻게 표현할까? ‘참 열심히 살았다’ 그것이지. ‘그래 열심히 살았다.’”).

SP: Yes, what a rewarding phrase.

JJ: That I am very proud of enduring well and living through it all (“내가 잘 견디고 산 것이 내가 참 대견하다”).

SP: You shared with me a lot of stories today. Is there anything that we didn’t get to talk about today that you can think of or that you might want to tell me about? Stories or memories?

JJ: When the Korean War broke out, there were no cars, so we walked the streets. When I was in middle school, I also walked to school, because there were no buses either. So back then, even if the distance was far, we walked. We walked even if it was more than 10 Li (“10리”- metaphor for long distance). Now that I think about it, I think we walked even as far as 100 Li (“100리”). Anyways, we walked everywhere back then. But now, I get tired even after a short walk.

SP: Right, you’re at a different age now.

JJ: Yes, I did walk everywhere, anywhere back then. Everyone did.

SP: That’s quite hard to imagine, because I personally haven’t experienced that.

JJ: Right, now it’s hard to imagine.

SP: Then for the younger generations, would you have any advice or wisdom you would like to share with them?

JJ: Well, young people these days already know so much. It has become easier to live than before, but the country still has to help them. But they’re lacking that help, so the young people these days are having a really hard time. There’s also the Coronavirus in today’s world too, so the government really has to take good care of them, but that’s not going well, so I feel sorry for them. They’re struggling because the adults, the older people, are not taking very good care of them. So I want to tell the younger generations to also endure and persevere, to try to make the world a better place.

SP: You shared with me a lot of stories today. As for our last question, how was today’s interview?

JJ: So I really followed your instructions from the beginning to speak as I remembered, but I don’t know if that was satisfactory from your end. Because I didn’t always speak chronologically.

SP: You did an amazing job. I learned about so many stories and experiences much beyond what I could ever expect. In particular, stories about the War are difficult to tell. So I thank you so much for remembering them and sharing them with me.

JJ: I was only talking about myself though. Other people may have other stories.

SP: Oh yes of course. It can be different for each person. But I thank you so much for sharing yours.

JJ: It would be nice if it was helpful.

SP: Of course, this has been beyond helpful…Please take good care of your health. And thank you so much again for sharing your time with me.

JJ: Of course, take care.


[Please click on the image below to listen to the originally composed music, "Sincerity and Hope."]