BERLIN (Yonhap News) ― An elderly German woman, whose love story with her long-lost North Korean husband drew international attention in 2008 when they met for the first time in 47 years, said Wednesday she visited the communist nation last month after learning of his death.
Renate Hong, 76, visited the North from Sept. 26-Oct. 3 together with her son, after learning that her 79-year-old husband, Hong Ok-keun, died of a cerebral hemorrhage on Sept. 4. She visited his grave and paid her respects.
She had originally planned the North Korean trip on the occasion of Chuseok, a traditional Korean holiday similar to Thanksgiving Day, but the North’s Red Cross notified her of his death as she prepared for the trip.
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Renate Hong (Yonhap News) |
On Wednesday, she told Yonhap News Agency by phone that she is very sad, but declined to discuss details of the trip, saying she agreed with North Korea to keep details of the visit to herself.
Renate Hong first met Hong Ok-keun in 1955 while he was a chemistry student in then East Germany. They married in 1960, but she lost contact with him after he returned to the North the following year as his government ordered North Korean students overseas to come home.
She has never remarried and raised their two sons alone.
Following a series of appeals, she was allowed to visit Pyongyang and meet with her long-lost husband in 2008 for the first time in 47 years. Their reunion drew widespread international media attention at the time.
