Mr. Kwon, an office worker in North Korea, wakes up early on
the morning of Chuseok [the traditional harvest festival of the Korean people]
to visit a number of gravesites. Carting elaborately prepared traditional foods
for the occasion, he heads to pay his respects at the grave of his deceased
father, followed by a visit to a different gravesite on behalf of a friend, who
defected to South Korea last year and is unable to make the trip himself. Mr.
Kwon already trimmed the grass around the gravesite a day prior to Chuseok, but
with many gravesites to visit on the official holiday, he departs his home at
dawn.
A source in North Hamgyung Province relayed the above story
to Daily NK as an example of a larger trend: Recently, defectors are reaching out to
relatives or friends still in North Korea to maintain the gravesites of family
members in their stead. The number of families with members have defected is up
considerably from the past, and those left behind in the North must often work
to hide this fact for their own protection, rendering them unable to properly care for the graves.
During Chuseok, families visit their ancestors’ graves and
engage in a variety of traditional practices, including a ritual of clearing
the weeds that may have grown up over the burial mound to show duty and
devotion to one’s family. On the morning of Chuseok Day, foods prepared with
the year’s fresh harvest are offered to give thanks to ancestors through an
ancestral rites ceremony.
Defectors residing in the South who are unable to
participate in these traditional activities are often wracked with sadness and
guilt during the holiday. Those with no living family members in the North are
affected on an even deeper level.
Chae Sun Hye, a 46-year old defector originally from
Hyeryeong City, North Hamgyung Province, said to Daily NK, “When Chuseok comes
around and I think about my parents still in my hometown I feel so lonely.” The
situation can bring bittersweet sentiments, she added, “All my siblings have
come [to the South] as well, so that’s wonderful, but only around Chuseok do I
feel differently.”
She went on to say that she asked a friend still residing in
the North to perform the Chuseok rituals at her father’s grave, but maintains
qualms about if it they will be properly executed. “I told him it would be good
if he could toast my father, trim
the grass, and perform the ancestral rites there at the site,” she said.
Another defector, who escaped from Hyesan City, Yangan
Province last year, said, “Our whole family escaped in the middle of the night
without any time to think about time to consider our ancestors’
gravesites.” Now that Chuseok has
arrived, she added, “It’s eating us up inside that we can’t go pay our respects
at their grave.”
“Since our entire family now resides in the South it’s so
sad that we don’t have anyone to go to our beloved parents’ gravesite, but I
have to believe that they would understand this situation,” said Han Myung Ae,
a 50-year old defector caught in a similar situation.
Many North Korean defectors, just like those featured in
this piece, head to Imjingak, a park located on the banks of the Imjin River in
the city of Paju, South Korea, the closest they can get to their former
homeland, to commiserate together about the loneliness they feel during the
Chuseok holiday.
“Every year I go to Imjingak to bow, make a toast, and
promise that I will see them again
after unification,” Han concluded.
