I recently had the wonderful opportunity to read the book “0 Hour”, an autobiography written in Korean by Mr. Ki-Chang Kim (b. 1917). The book retells a captivating story of his experiences through much of the dominant events of 20th century Korea and later immigration to the U.S. The following is a summary introduction and translation of three portions of the book.
The immigration story of Mr. Kim and his family is itself remarkable, though in certain aspects perhaps familiar. But it is his entire life story that is absolutely compelling and, it seemed to me, too important not to be told. Among other things, his story made me reflect how many immigrants to the U.S. must have had such extraordinary experiences and how those personal backgrounds must have played a role in shaping the American experience not only for themselves and their families but the communities around them.
The story begins in 1945 in the area of Mokdan River (Mandarin: Mudanjiang), a city in Northeast China where a Korean diaspora community had formed during the Japanese occupation. Following the end of the Japanese occupation, Mr. Kim helps to organize a police force of the Korean community. When the Chinese People’s Army takes over the area, the police force is reorganized as a unit of the Chinese army and Mr. Kim becomes the leader of that battalion. As persecution of Christians increase in the area, he puts in action an incredible plan to relocate to Korea with several families in the church. I don’t want to give away the entire story (since I hope one day someone will translate the entire book), but with movement across the Korea-China border restricted, he is able to transport their savings in the form of hundreds of bushels of grain and beans to northern Korea. There he trades the goods, keeps a promise with Chinese army officials by sending military supplies back to China (with a note that he will follow later), then journeys on to southern Korea with his family and 700 sacks of fertilizer.
Chapters 7 and 35 of the book, which I have translated below, are toward the beginning and end of this first portion of Mr. Kim’s story.
The later part of the book recounts his experiences in South Korea--the Korean War and his escape from almost certain death after interrogation by North Korean command, his printing business and fortuitous experience with dry cleaning. The final three chapters, roughly half of which is translated below, describe his immigration to the U.S.
Expressions of Mr. Kim’s Christian faith are interspersed throughout the book. Fellow believers may see how God worked in his life through his faith. I think others will still see a man whose faith moved him and allowed him to carry on through seemingly impossible situations. - Hoon Lee
Living in Korea hasn't been easy. Well, as easy as I thought it would be. When my husband received his assignment to South Korea, I breathed a sigh of relief. He’d just returned from a deployment while we were stationed in Hawaii, right after an internship year as an Army Psychologist. Needless to say, I was ready for a breather and I thought I was getting it.
The other day my parents told me they had bought their cemetery plots in Zimmerman, Minnesota, side by side. Despite the jolt of morbidity that ran through me, I understood the practicality; my adoptive parents were sensible, well-prepared people. At the ages of seventy-three and seventy-four, they were deciding how to close the last chapters of their life. My parents and I talked awhile at their oak kitchen table with the spray of daffodils in a white creamery pitcher over our cups of lukewarm coffee. I made the proper inquiries about the cemetery location and how they arrived at that decision (my mother’s family grew up on a farm outside the small town of Zimmerman). I commented my approval as they expressed their desires to be buried as they wished, relieving others of the burden. I was struck with how we do not have a choice in how we come into this world, but we have a choice in where we wish to finally be buried.