Letter to US from North Korean Looking for Father

A letter from a North Korean man looking for his father to his uncle in New York is becoming the talk of local Korean-Americans, reports the Chosun Ilbo.

The letter was sent by a Mr. Roh of Puryong-gun, Hamgyongbuk-do to his uncle, a Mr. Kim Jung-hyun of Sunnyside, Queens. According to the letter, Mr. Roh held a reunion with his father at the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang in 1997, after which he got news about his dad through letters with his sister in the United States. The letters stopped a couple of years ago, however, so Mr. Roh asked the recipient to please let him know whether his father was still alive.

Roh also said his 89-year-old mother was still doing well, as were his siblings.

Unfortunately, the address he sent it to was not that of his uncle.

The postman, however, went to a local deli run by a Ms. Kim Mi-seon and asked her to find the recipient. Kim didn’t know how to find the intended recipient, however, so she asked a church aquaintence of hers, radio producer Kim Jun-han, to inform the Korean-American community through the radio.

PD Kim was a bit sceptical about whether the letter really came from the North — he doubted North Koreans could freely send letters to the United States. The stamps and the postmark from Puryong Post Office seemed to suggest it was real, though.

The letter was postmarked Jan 14, 2009, BTW.

What was interesting is that between the 70 won envelope and 150 won in stamps, it cost a total of 220 won to send the letter — about 10% of the average North Korean worker’s monthly salary (2000 won).

A defector artist living in the United States told Korean Internet news site Newsis that in principle, one can send letters to the United States from North Korea, but they are handled separately, undergoing strict screening by the North Korean security services.

The letter was reported on New York’s Korean Radio Broadcasting, but the recipient has yet to be found.