North, South Korea conflicts viewed from the prism of young Korean'sdreams

[caption id="attachment_4363" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Portland state University"][/caption]

PORTLAND, OR - Carol Forsloff - It was 1960, Portland, Oregon and a Korean fellow was in a social dancing class with other students, talking about his escape to the South and the dangers on the border, as today's events bring memories of his narrative years ago.

Chang Ho Cho, a young man of great academic promise, was studying to be a dentist or doctor, undecided in the choices between them as he was working hard at being an excellent student.  This thoughtful, handsome young man took a heavy load of classes, often worked part-time as well, and had time to help other students get to and from jobs and school, as he was lucky enough to have a car.

As an older student, Cho had resources the younger students did not have, in terms of a serious life experience.  He had escaped during the Korean War, eventually became a soldier in the South Korean Army, then moved to the United States to go to school.

It was that young man, working with his English speaking and writing skills that got to my attention, along with a friendship cultivated over nearly two years.  But as one life touches another, his life story is not one easily forgotten in the day's events of fifty years ago.

For Cho was a man of great hope, who the last time I saw him had married a young woman from California whose father was a state legislator and was embarking on his career as a dentist.  He had the hope that North Korean young men no longer have.  It is the death of dreams that are remembered in the shadow of a story long ago, but that personalizes, as it does for others who have met valiant people like Cho, that makes the potential of war a painful thought.