SOUTH KOREA-NORTH KOREA/DEFECTORS-WEDDING North Korean defectors tie the knot in mass wedding

Record ID: 149066

  • Title: SOUTH KOREA-NORTH KOREA/DEFECTORS-WEDDING North Korean defectors tie the knot in mass wedding
  • Date: 30th June 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Korean) SECRETARY-GENERAL OF HAPPY WORLD FOUNDATION, KANG SEUNG-KOO, SAYING: "I wish this event could be a good opportunity for North Korean defectors who were not able to have a wedding ceremony due to economic difficulties. I hope for the couples to live a harmonious life and have a stable life in South Korea." NORTH KOREAN DEFECTORS TAKING GROUP PHOTOGRAPHS
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVADFNFSLPD0C33FLPGCC3VZ96VR
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A hundred couples of North Korean defectors exchanged vows at a mass wedding on Tuesday (June 30) in South Korea.
    About 400 well-wishers and families attended the mass wedding ceremony to celebrate the event.
    Ninety couples from North Korea and 10 couples from North and South Korea gathered at a sports stadium in Seoul to tie the knot.
    "I now realise I am getting married in South Korea. I am extremely happy that I am marrying this man. I want to thank South Korea for inviting us to this wedding," said Joo Ah-ra, a 36-year-old North Korean defector who was marrying a South Korean man.
    Another couple tying the knot, who are both from North Korea, said they hoped for reunification of the two Koreas.
    "I am more desperate for the reunification of North and South Korea than anyone. I wish the two Koreas to be united soon," 61-year-old North Korean defector, Yoo Chang-hee said.
    "I hope reunification of Korea will happen soon. Until that time, we will live happily for a long time," 56-year-old North Korean defector Kim Soo-yang added.
    Kang Seung-koo, Secretary-General of Happy World Foundation who organised the mass wedding, said that he hoped the North Korean defectors would be happy in South Korea.
    "I wish for this event to be a good opportunity for North Korean defectors who were not able to have a wedding ceremony due to economic difficulties. I hope the couples will live a harmonious life and have a stable life in South Korea," Kang said.
    More than 28,000 North Korean defectors have come to South Korea, according to the South Korean Unification Ministry.
    North and South Koreas remain technically at war because a truce was signed at the end of their 1950-53 conflict, not a peace treaty.
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