Local Korean American hopeful after summit, but also skeptical

SEATTLE -- Hope is spreading with the possibility of peace on the horizon between North and South Korea. However, for some Korean Americans they are skeptical that there will actually be change.

Jin-Ah Kim is American. She grew up living across the United States, but for her Korea is still like a home.

“We are the products of the direct descendants of war,” said Kim.

During the Korean War, her uncle Henry McKay, a sergeant in the U.S. Army, fell in love with her aunt.

Her family followed Uncle McKay back to the states; Kim’s father even joined the army.

Kim’s gone back to visit her family’s home country. She even celebrated her first birthday in South Korea.

But for her entire life, she’s only ever known Korea as a North and South, divided by a war that seemed like it may never end.

“Seventy years is too long,” said Kim.

Talks of unification are creating hope, but Kim says she’s had hope before and been disappointed.

“It was sibling against sibling spying on each other. Seventy years of that amount of animosity broken by a piece of paper? I have a healthy amount of skepticism,” she said.

But she says she still wants to believe. Kim says decades of mistrust and animosity are not enough to destroy thousands of years of history Korea has as a united country.

“This (unification) has been a dream forever,” said Kim.

Ending the Korean War involves more than just the two countries coming together. Any final peace deal must also involve China and the United States.