Voices from War’s Legacies: Reconciliation and Violence in Inter‐Korean Family Reunions

Abstract

SummaryCan political violence of national division and war be overcome through family bonds and reunion? This paper addresses this question through an examination of two Korean siblings—a North Korean sister and a South Korean brother separated in the aftermath of the Korean War, 1950‐1953. Over half a century later, the sister escaped North Korea wishing to contact and reunite with her long‐lost brother, and asked for my help. In my efforts to make their reunion possible, I encountered thorny issues about desire, separation, and kinship. I argue that the affective glow of national reunification and reconciliation symbolized by inter‐Korean family reunions obscure the deeper impediments to overcoming war’s legacies and its enduring violence.