이산의 기억을 ‘평화의 자원’으로 이어가야 [왜냐면]

81 years after the Korean War, we commemorate liberation. Yet, liberation has not restored all lives. The most representative case is that of separated families. While independence ended colonial rule, division left another tragic aftermath. Parents and children remained strangers, never knowing if their loved ones lived or died, and brothers and sisters were separated without a final goodbye.

Liberation arrived, but return or reunion did not come to everyone. When the story of separated families is mentioned, the attitude of "it's too late now" follows. Most requesters for reunion are over 50, and survivors are rapidly decreasing. The issue of North-South relations has been prolonged for a long time. Separated families are often seen as a historical issue left unaddressed.

Are we really ready to leave it that way? Over time, we have only viewed separated families as a humanitarian issue of reuniting families. However, that is not the entirety of their meaning. Separated families are the most vivid testimony of how war and division shattered individual and family lives. They are the lasting traces left by state violence, and the living records our society must carry forward.

Now, we face the opportunity to expand and inherit their memory as a shared memory of society. I, after long research and observing reunions in the field, have come to think of this new meaning. The reunion of separated families was not merely a family gathering. It was a 'public ceremony' to collectively acknowledge the violence of division and vow never to repeat such tragedies.

The 1983 KBS program 'Finding Separated Families' and subsequent North-South reunions symbolize this ceremony. We shared tears watching reunions and recognized that division is not just a tragedy for particular families, but our collective pain. The ceremony continues beyond the event itself, as it is about carrying forward our shared memory.

This reunification is also a social ceremony aimed at achieving peace. We must remember not the bitterness of division, but the lesson of how war and division can easily upend human lives. This memory exists to prevent repeating the same tragedy. I call this "peaceful expression of collective violent memory" - transforming the memory of violence from a tool for hostility and retribution to one for reconciliation and coexistence.

This is the task we are left with today. Reunification may eventually come to an end, but the memory must continue. Liberation is a historical event, but liberation cannot be completed without carrying forward the memory of the separated families.