코리아타임즈 Julliard Violist Finds Her Lost Birth Father

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Julliard Violist Finds Her Lost Birth Father

By Lee Yong-sung Staff Reporter Violist Caroline Johnston who, with her Julliard class mates, had formed the Julliard Quartet to give a concert at the Kumho Art Hall on Sept. 1 in the hope of finding her birth parents, finally met her birth father. Johnston’s Korean name is Hong Eu-jin Johnston’s dramatic reunion with her birth father Kim and her half sister took place at the Westin Chosun Beach Hotel in Pusan on Sept. 3, two days before she returned to the United States. ``Father!’’ the junior student of the Julliard School shouted in a shaking voice at the first sight of her long lost Korean father, Kim replied with an even more emotional ``Sorry, its all my fault.’’ Her story was reported through the Sept. 1 issue of The Korea Times and several other Korean dailies. During the meeting, however, Johnston, who was adopted by American parents 21 years ago couldn’t make herself understood well enough in Korean. It was Park Suh-chun, head of Namkwang Social Welfare Center who volunteered as an interpreter, bridging the gap between two that share almost nothing in common except for the name of father and daughter. ``I didn’t expect to see you again,’’ Johnston said. ``I’m happy to know that I have a sister.’’ The social welfare center is where the baby Johnston was taken care of for about six months until she was adopted. Kim, on the other hand, kept sighing with mixed feelings of guilt and joy, then slowly the story of what happened 21 years ago came out. Kim, who ran a shoe factory back in 1983, had Johnston with a female factory worker with whom he had fallen in love. However, their relationship didn’t last long as their parents were not in favor of their relationship, and to make matters worse, the factory was burnt down by accident one day, which led Kim to put his baby daughter in front of another’s house in desperation. Johnston’s sister persuaded Kim to meet her after hearing news of her concert, and first phoning Johnston to make sure she was really his daughter, the only clue being that Kim remembered his daughter had a red spot on her hip. At the very last moment however, Kim backed out, afraid that he was not worthy of meeting his daughter. It was the violist’s letter to her father delivered via the welfare center in which she asked for a few photos of him to take back to the U.S. that changed Kim’s mind and led him to meet her. ``It was such a happy and delightful moment,’’ Johnston said. ``I’ll come back here for Christmas to see you. I hope I can find my birth mom by then.’’ Johnston has gone back to the U.S. this past Sunday with her American mother, Julia Johnston.