[KS] Book on Seo Yeong-hae

[Frank Hoffmann]

Hello Erica (and All):

Sŏ Yŏng-hae (徐嶺海, his French spelling was Seu Ring Hai) is most 
certainly worth a book or two! Amazing guy. It's only recently that he 
got some ink in both Korean and French media. 

As for postal communications between mainland China and South Korea, I 
think -- while diplomatic relations only normalized around 1987 between 
the two states -- postal communication was always possible, I think. 
The international mail system was not "interrupted." But in the cold 
war area each of these authoritarian governments (China and Korea) 
certainly had a very close eye on outgoing or incoming mails from a 
country in the other camp. Sŏ Yŏng-hae may not have written in order to 
protect himself and his wife. 

He sure wasn't alone in that situation. So many Koreans continued to 
live in Manchuria or elsewhere in mainland China after Korean 
independence, while other family members had returned to Korea. As far 
as I am aware of communication _mostly_ happened via Red Cross channels 
or indirectly through foreigners. 

Maybe there are others here on the list who have concrete infos on that 
situation?

Best,
Frank 


On Fri, 11 Sep 2020 19:05:27 +0200 (CEST), - - wrote:
> I am a writer based in Berlin and am writing a book on a Viennese 
> friend's grandfather who was a Korean freedom fighter and lived in 
> exile in Paris for 27 years: Seo Yeong-hae. 
> My question: From 1948 to 1956/57 Seo (who had Chinese citizenship) 
> was forced to stay on Shanghai (while on his way to Paris with his 
> Korean wife). His wife returned to South Korea. In 1956/57 Seo went 
> to North Korea and nothing has been heard from him since. During his 
> period in Shanghai (where he taught at a Korean school) Seo had no 
> communication whatsoever with his wife who was a school teacher in 
> Busan. I would like to know whether there was any possibility of 
> exchanging letters between Shanghai and South Korea between 1948 and 
> 1957, i.e. whether Seo's non-communication was due to the political 
> situation between the two countries or whether he refused to 
> communicate for personal reasons. 
> Thank you very much for your help.
> Erica Fischer, Berlin.

_______________________________
Frank Hoffmann
http://koreanstudies.com