Min Jin Lee

I know your uncle was very significant in bringing you here, but what was the motivation from your parents' point of view?

Well, my father is a war refugee, so he lost his entire family during the war.

He was 16 when he came down from the North to the South.

And I think that for him, he really thought that the war could always happen again.

And to be honest, he's correct.

I mean, even right now, it's very possible for North to invade South right now.

And I think his thinking was, I need to get out because I can't go through that experience.

I wouldn't let my family go through that experience.

And when he learned that it was possible to apply for citizenship and to immigrate to the United States, they gave it a shot and very quickly they were given visas to do so.

And it felt like a sign to them, so they decided to come.

My mother didn't want to go.

No?

No, she didn't want to go because she's from the South.

And she didn't have the same anxiety.

She still had all of her family.

Her father was still alive.

Her brothers and sisters were still in Korea at that moment in 1976.

And she had a thriving little practice as a piano teacher in the neighborhood.

She was very popular.

And she felt like, you know, we're okay.