They stopped near what was once an entranceway, and Cho announced simply, “This was my house. This was where I lived as a child.”
Kary, surprised but also shocked at the extent of the ruin, asked, “Did this happen when you…”
“No,” Cho answered. “We were simply taken away. But years later, on one of my first missions for the Russians, I was near Pyongyang, and I came back here. We’d been forced to abandon almost everything when we were arrested. I suppose I wanted to find some relic, maybe something my mother had owned. I found the house like this. The army had used explosives to level the place, then set everything on fire. I spent a few hours picking through the rubble, but couldn’t find anything. They probably looted it first.”
Kary tried to imagine the pain Cho had felt back then, the hurt he must still feel. She hugged his arm, searching for words, but could only say, “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be,” Cho answered. “This is what my life felt like until I found something better, something to live for.”
Kary could only hug him even more tightly. She fought to control what would be tears of happiness, but she knew once she started, it would be very hard to stop.
“I want to build our house right here,” he announced. “This was the last place I could call home. We’ll tear out all the wreckage, then build a place for us.” After a moment, he added, “Once we clear the site, I’d like to have a shaman perform a kut. Would that bother you?”
Swallowing hard, she answered, “Of course not. This sounds wonderful, but what about the mission? You know I want to rebuild that.”
“What mission? You mean the new full-sized hospital, school, and church? Your CFK organization did so much in spite of the Kims, I’m curious to see how much they’ll be able to accomplish now.” He paused for a moment, and became more serious.
“You know you can’t rebuild at Sinan. The village is empty, and it’s contaminated. But there’s plenty of room to build right here. Actually,” he said, pointing back down the road, “back there a few hundred meters. Room for everything, and to grow after that. I’ve already surveyed the site.”
“What?” she exclaimed. “Is that what you have been doing the past few days? And what do you mean ‘surveyed’?”
“I’ve talked to a few people, and I’m starting a construction company.” He grinned. “It’s a growth industry, don’t you know?”
Korean Language Terms
Ajumma — A respectful term for a middle-aged woman.
Dongji — “Comrade”, referring to someone of higher social standing.
Dongmu — “Comrade”, referring to someone of equal or lower social standing.
Halmeonim — Grandmother
Oppa — “Older Brother,” literally and figuratively. Used by women only.
—seonsaengnim — A respectful term used for a doctor or teacher
—ssi — Honorific used between people of the same social status
—yang — Similar to —ssi, but for unmarried women/female minors only.
Glossary
AA: Antiaircraft
AAA: Antiaircraft artillery
AEW: Airborne early warning
AH-1F Cobra: US attack helicopter.
AH-64D Apache: US attack helicopter.
AIM-9X Sidewinder: US infrared-guided air-to-air missile.
AKM: Russian Kalashnikov modernized automatic rifle.
APC: Armored personnel carrier
ASAP: As soon as possible
AT-3 Sagger: Soviet first generation anti-tank guide missile.
AT-4 Spigot: Soviet second generation anti-tank guided missile.
ATGM: Anti-tank guided missile
BM-11: North Korean rocket launcher based on the BM-21.
BM-21: Soviet 122mm rocket launcher.
BM-24: Soviet 240mm rocket launcher.
BM-25: aka Musudan, a North Korean intermediate range ballistic missile.
BTR-60: Soviet 1960s era eight-wheeled armored personnel carrier.
BVS-1: US Navy submarine optronic mast, replaces an optical periscope.
C-130: US transport aircraft.
CCP: Chinese Communist Party
CEP: Circular error probable, basic measure of a weapon’s accuracy.
CFC: Combined Forces Command
CFK: Christian Friends of Korea
Chonma-ho: North Korean main battle tank based on the Soviet T-62.
CIA: Central Intelligence Agency
CIC: Combat information center
CMC: Central Military Commission
CNN: Cable News Network
CNO: Chief of Naval Operations
CO: Commanding officer
CP: Command post
CT: Cryptologic technician
CTML: Conventional twelve-mile limit
DF-5: Chinese Dong-Feng (East Wind) 5 intercontinental ballistic missile.
DGPS: Differential global positioning system
DMZ: Demilitarized Zone
DPI: Designated point of impact
DPRK: Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
E-3C Sentry: US Air Force airborne early warning and control aircraft.
E-8C JSTARS: US Air Force ground surveillance, command and control aircraft. JSTARS stands for joint surveillance target attack radar.
EO: Electro-optical
EMCON: Emission control
ESM: Electronic support measures
ETA: Estimated time of arrival
F-16 Falcon: US fighter-bomber.
F-22 Raptor: US stealth fighter.
FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation
FLASH: Flame assault shoulder weapon
FLIR: Forward looking infrared
FUBAR: Fouled up beyond all recognition (polite definition)
G2: Army command senior intelligence officer.
GAZ: Gorkovsky Avtomobilny Zavod or Gorky Automobile Plant a major Russian automotive manufacturer based in the city of Nizhny Novgorod.
GBU-31: Guided Bomb Unit-31, a 2,000 lb GPS guided bomb.
GBU-38B: Guided Bomb Unit-38B, a 500 lb GPS guided bomb.
GPS: Global positioning system
HEAT: High-explosive anti-tank
HHB: Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion
Humvee: Slang for the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMVV), a four-wheel drive military automobile.
HQ: Headquarters
HUD: Heads up display
Hwaseong-5: aka Scud B, North Korean copy of the Soviet R-17 short-range ballistic missile.
Hwaseong-13: aka KN-08, North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile.
ICC: Integrated command center
IFV: Infantry fighting vehicle
J2: Joint command senior intelligence officer.
J-11: Chinese version of the Russian Su-27SK Flanker fighter.