Just miles from the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea — where some observers continue to fawn over Kim Jong Un’s sister and North Korea’s “smile diplomacy” — a trio of Americans remain detained in the Hermit Kingdom.
Concern has only grown for the three Korean-Americans — Kim Hak Song, Kim Dong Chul and Tony Kim — since the death of American college student Otto Warmbier last June after the he spent 17 months locked away in North Korea. And though advocates said they were given some hope during President Trump’s State of the Union address, when the image of a North Korean defector defiantly holding his crutches in the air was met with rapturous applause, there’s also a desire to see continued action and pressure applied against the rogue regime.
“My mom, my brother and I miss our dad so much. We’re so worried about him and his health,” said Sol Kim, whose father, Tony Kim, has been held by North Korea for about nine months.
In a Facebook video, Sol said the separation has caused “hard days for our family.”
“My family and I long to make contact with my dad,” he said. “We want to tell him that he’s soon going to be a grandfather. My brother and sister are [each] expecting their first child.”
While the broadcast of the Winter Olympics is a chance to see the sporting world’s finest for some, for Sol, it’s a constant reminder of his father.
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