In 1967, Pham Ngoc Canh, 18, was sent to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to study chemical mechanics at the Hamhung Chemistry and Industry University. Hamhung is the second largest city, an important chemical industry center in the DPRK and the capital of South Hamgyŏng Province.
After four years studying at the university, in 1971, the Vietnamese man began working as an apprentice at a fertilizer factory in Hamhung, where he met a girl named Ri Yong Hui, who worked in the analysis division.
One day, Ri Yong Hui noticed someone was looking at her through the window. That was Pham Ngoc Canh. From this eye contact, they fell in love, which they didn’t think would continue for 31 years.
They loved each other in secret because the DPRK’s law at that time didn’t allow Korean girls to love and marry foreigners. The society didn’t support such relationships.
Two years later, Canh had to return to Vietnam.
“I will wait for you forever,” Ri Yong Hui promised. She was ill for months. She even tried to commit suicide but her mother rescued her in time.
Several months later, Ri Yong Hui received the first letter from Vietnam. The letter was not for her but for her mother and the sender was “Pom Noc Kieng”, a Korean girl. They couldn’t write each other as lovers, and could only ask “Are you all right?” “I wish you will always fulfill your assigned missions” or “Is Hamhung snowy this winter?”
Those “dry” words were the breath of life for Ri Yong Hui. She read the letters hundreds of times and burnt them afterwards for fear that someone would discover their relationship. In Vietnam, Ri Yong Hui’s letters became Canh’s treasures.
In 1978, Canh was sent to DPRK again to attend a 3-month training course. He had to disguise himself to see Ri Yong Hui. The situation didn’t impove. As his course was nearly finished, Canh wrote a letter and managed to send it to the chief of the DPRK Women Union to present their case. However, Ri Yong Hui prevented him from sending the letter because she knew that was hopeless. “Let’s go home! I will wait for you forever,” she told Canh.
Returning to Vietnam, Canh became enthusiastically involved in all activities related to the DPRK, including raising funds to assist DPRK people. He then became the permanent member of the Vietnam-DPRK Friendship Association.
The couple still wrote to each other until 1992, when Canh received the last letter from his girlfriend. His efforts to find her all failed.
In 1997, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Manh Cam paid a visit to the DPRK. Canh wrote a letter and directly saw the Minister to ask for help. Mr. Cam agreed and brought the letter to the DPRK. After that, the DPRK Embassy informed Canh that Ri Yong Hui got married.
Canh didn’t believe this because if she wanted to get married, she would have done so many years earlier.
At that time, Canh moved from the General Department of Chemistry to the Hanoi Department of Sports and Physical Training as an interpreter for DPRK taekwondo coaches, to get information about his girlfriend.
In 2001, he was informed that Ri Yong Hui died of sickness ten years earlier. But his friend, Park Sang Kim, an interpreter for DPRK high-ranking delegations to Vietnam, went to Hamhung to look for Ri Yong Hui. He discovered that the woman was still healthy and still loved Canh.
Canh was very happy and he still waited for a chance which came in May 2002 when a Vietnamese high-ranking delegation visited the DPRK.
Canh wrote a letter and sent it to some members of the delegation, asking for their assistance. Shortly after, Canh suddenly received a document of the DPRK authorities that allowed him to marry Ri Yong Hui.
He immediately prepared the wedding and fulfilled the necessary procedures to go to the DPRK. On October 1, 2002, he arrived in Pyongyang. Several days later, Ri Yong Hui arrived too. The 31-year love had a happy ending.
They came back to Vietnam and the wedding ceremony was organized on December 31, 2002 in Hanoi. At that time, the groom was 54 and the bride was 55.
Thanks to the media, some brothers and sisters of Ri Yong Hui from South Korea learned about the couple and went to Hanoi to see Ri Yong Hui.
VietNamNet reporter visited Mr. Canh and Mrs. Ri Yong Hui in late 2010. They live in an apartment in Hanoi. Mr. Canh retired while Mrs. Ri Yong Hui taught Korean at a foreign language center.
Mr. Canh said that they returned to the DPRK by train from Beijing in November 2010. They prepared many gifts, from electric torches to clothes and shoes. Though the couple could only stay in Pyongyang, Mrs. Ri Yong Hui was very happy to return home.
Officials at the Vietnamese Embassy in Pyongyang told them that many people from Hamhung city asked them about Ri Yong Hui and her now legendary love story.
"처음 그녀를 보고 내 아내가 됐으면 좋겠다 생각했지요."
1971년 북한 평양에서 유학하던 베트남 남성 팜 녹 칸씨는 비료 공장에 다니던 북한 여성 이영희씨를 보고 첫눈에 반했다. 당시 그의 나이 23세. 이씨는 한 살 연상의 여인이었다. 이들은 북한 당국의 감시 속에서도 몰래 사랑을 이어갔다. 유학 일정이 끝난 칸씨는 홀로 귀국길에 올랐다. 그러나 이씨를 향한 사랑은 베트남에서도 계속 타올랐다.
두 사람은 편지를 통해 마음을 나눴고 칸씨는 베트남 스포츠팀 통역 담당으로 일을 하며 북한을 몇 차례 방문했다. 칸씨는 이씨를 베트남으로 데려오려 했지만 79년 베트남의 캄보디아 침공으로 양국 관계가 악화되면서 불행이 시작됐다. 92년 이후로는 이씨의 서신마저 끊겼고 북한 당국은 "다른 남성과 결혼했다" "사망했다"고 거짓말하며 포기하게 했다.
그러나 칸씨는 이를 믿지 않았다. 당시 베트남 국가주석, 외교부와 접촉해 끈질기게 설득하는 등 정성을 쏟았고 마침내 당국의 허가를 받아 이씨를 베트남으로 데려오는 데 성공했다. 2002년, 이들은 하노이에서 700여명의 하객이 참석한 가운데 결혼식을 올렸다. 칸 씨는 54세, 이씨는 55세였다. 당시 이 소식은 국내외 언론에 소개돼 뜨거운 관심을 모았다.
그러다 14일(현지시간) 영국 BBC가 현재 60대 노부부가 된 이들의 근황을 전했다. BBC는 이들의 현재 사진을 공개하며 "노부부가 다정하게 손을 잡고 길을 걷거나, 칸씨의 낡은 오토바이를 함께 타고 다니는 모습을 하노이에서 종종 볼 수 있다"고 전했다. 밸런타인데이를 맞아 소개된 이들의 운명 같은 러브스토리는 전세계인들의 심금을 울렸다.
이씨는 최근 미국 자유아시아방송(RFA)과의 인터뷰에서 "연애하고 재회하기까지 30년이 넘었고 이제는 할머니가 다 됐다(웃음)"며 "1년 반 정도 연애를 했다. 헤어질 때 다시 만날 수 있을 거라는 희망을 못 가졌지만 사랑이라는 게 마음대로 안됐다"고 말했다. 또 "30년 동안 이 사람은 장가도 안 가고 나한테 계속 편지하면서 그렇게 30년을 보냈다"고 전했다.
담담한 듯 흘러가는 일상 생활에서 가끔 별똥별 처럼 떨어지는 이야기들이 있다.
다른 세상 얘기 인것 같기도 하고 소설 속 얘기 같기도 하지만..... 이 사람들의 한 해 한 해는 어땠을까 나도 모르게 앉아서 한참을 생각하게 된다.
한국어 기사가 좀 더 로맨틱하게 얘기에 접근한 느낌.....
마지막에 두 부부가 낡은 오토바이를 타고 돌아다니는 모습을 볼수 있다는 부분이 좋더라...하는 잡설
