March 29, 2024
News

On Chuseok, Koreans pray for their loved ones across the border in North Korea

As others visited family, those who can’t because of the Koreas' division gathered to remember long-lost relatives

Over Chuseok, the three-day Korean holiday celebrating the fall harvest, 78-year-old Choi Du-ho journeyed with his family to one of the northernmost cities in South Korea.

There, Choi prayed for his father. But unlike the countless other Koreans across the country bowing at graves and altars adorned with food offerings for their ancestors, Choi did so not in his hometown but at the doorstep of North Korea — and for a man who may still be alive.

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