On a blistering morning this week, a significant crowd gathered at Imjingang Station in South Korea, the closest point to North Korea on Seoul's subway line. They had come to witness Ahn Hak-sop, a 95-year-old former prisoner of war, embark on what he referred to as his final journey to return home. Ahn, who has spent most of his life in the South against his will, longs to be buried in the North, but despite his efforts, officials turned him away, citing a lack of arrangements.
Ahn’s health issues, including pulmonary edema, prevented him from making the full 30-minute trek to the Unification Bridge that connects the two Koreas. With support from two companions, he walked the last 200 meters, holding a North Korean flag—an emblem of his unwavering belief that he belongs to a land "free from imperialism."
Born during Japan's colonial rule of Korea, Ahn was 23 when he was captured by South Korean forces during the Korean War. He was sentenced to life imprisonment for fighting against the South after joining the North Korean army. After over four decades, he received a special pardon but struggled to find acceptance in South Korea, often feeling like an outsider and grappling with a sense of identity.
In 2000, Ahn declined an opportunity to return home, believing that doing so would signify a capitulation to American influence in South Korea. He has consistently blamed the U.S. for obstructing Korean reunification, a viewpoint rooted in memories of his youth when he felt Korea was merely exchanging one form of colonial rule for another.
Throughout his life, Ahn has protested the presence of U.S. military and political influence in South Korea. He refrained from signing a conversion to renounce his past and has faced extreme treatment as a result. His steadfast loyalty to North Korea persists, bolstered by what he deems a distortion of reality in Western media coverage of the North.
While acknowledging the significant changes in both Koreas over the decades, Ahn's beliefs about identity, autonomy, and the historical narrative of his homeland remain unchanged. His final journey to the North, though symbolically thwarted, underscores the enduring ties and the painful complexities of the Korean peninsula's divided history.
