Trapped in the Korean War

"e;ATTENTION! ATTENTION!"e;A loud and rough voice came through the school loudspeaker. That Wednesday morning, June 28th 1950, was different from the any Wednesday before it. A new reality was being imposed on South Korea by its neighbour to the north as thousands of soldiers from the North Korean People s Army poured into Seoul, South Korea. This war was to have global ramifications, and yet it was also a very personal struggle for me and my family. My father, a famous musician, refused to be a puppet of the North Korean propaganda machine and we found ourselves under constant physical threat. This is the true story of myself, Youngsil, a 9-year-old girl who, along with my family, were trapped between two warring factions: North and South Korea. Months of hiding, fear and living on the edge of starvation became a way of life, forcing the family to do extraordinary things to survive.