Presenter recounts family's escape from North Korea during Immigrant Heritage Month remarks

A presenter at an Immigrant Heritage Month observance recounted the wartime escape and migration story of their family, saying their father was born in Pyongyang and their mother in Jinju, South Korea.

“My father and mother actually survived by living in the mountains in Korea and trying to stay out of the harm's way of the bombs,” the presenter said, describing how family members hid to survive bombardment during the Korean War. The presenter said an uncle warned the family to leave and that the grandfather, a physician, would have been targeted among intellectuals.

The presenter said the couple married while the father was in medical training and emigrated to the United States in the 1960s. Recalling life after arrival, the presenter said their father sought what he believed were the best schools in the Chicago area but encountered resistance from realtors: “No realtor would show a Korean family a house,” the presenter said, adding that they finally found a realtor who had adopted a Korean child.

The remarks framed those experiences as part of what Immigrant Heritage Month celebrates: "honoring who we are, and who we were and where we came from," the presenter said, noting the sacrifices parents made to provide their children with opportunities.

The event included these personal reflections only; no formal actions or votes were recorded in the transcript.