Northern women, southern men offer look at consequences of reunification They first met at a matchmaking party in April 2008. Like the other men, Jang Seok-do, 43, handed out his business cards to a couple of ladies. One was Kim Hye-young, 37. After the party ended they got back to their lives. A few days later, Kim said she suddenly got the urge to call a few of the men who had given her their cards, but most of them sounded as if they’d already forgotten the light-hearted party where they exchanged glances over tea and cookies. Jang was different. “He was extremely pleased to hear from me because there was no way for him to contact me without me reaching him first,” said Kim, her accent betraying her birthplace in North Hamgyong Province. It was the beginning of a romance between a South Korean bachelor and a woman from the North who had crossed the border. The party where the two met was organized by the city of Anseong, Gyeonggi, to encourage marriages between South Korean men and ...
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