The SBS entertainment program 'Kkokkomu' delivered the secret of the human rights violation in Sorokdo, where Hansen's disease patients were forcibly isolated, igniting anger and tears in places filled with long-standing prejudice and discrimination.
The 169th episode of 'Stories of That Day' (directed by Lee Geun-byeol, Lee Dong-won, Ko Hye-rin), which aired on 3rd, had 'Stigma - The Island That Cannot Have Children' as its theme, featuring singer Chungha, actress Seo Young-hee, and actor Choi Won-young as listeners.
The broadcast began with the story of Lee Nam-cheol, who was forcibly isolated in Sorokdo in Jeollanam-do after being identified as a Hansen's disease patient and separated from his parents. At that time, Sorokdo housed up to 6,000 residents, with management staff and patients separated by barbed wire. Patients lived in communal settings under harsh circumstances and were regulated in their distance from staff, while men required sterilization procedures known as 'Danjong surgery' when getting married, and women had to undergo abortions if they became pregnant. Furthermore, after death, bodies were sometimes subjected to autopsies. It was reported that people in Sorokdo would express a desire to die on weekends when staff were off. However, it was already revealed in the 1970s that Hansen's disease was not hereditary. Still, the regulations in Sorokdo did not change, and it was essentially a 'concentration camp.'
Reflecting on that time, Lee Nam-cheol noted, "I wondered if I had to live like this without being treated as a human," while Jang In-sim, a victim of forced abortions, recalled tearfully, "I was dragged as if to a slaughterhouse. They told me that crows wouldn't give birth to crows." The fetuses resulting from forced abortions were preserved in glass jars filled with formalin, eventually being neglected. Children born while evading surveillance were labeled 'Migama,' meaning 'not yet infected,' and were forcibly admitted to the Sorokdo childcare center, separated from their parents. Seo Young-hee struggled to find words, saying, "I can't even imagine. My heart aches so much."
The conditions in the Sorokdo childcare center were poor, and the children suffered from hunger. The children could meet their parents once a month. They were allowed a one-hour meeting while maintaining a distance of 2 meters. Due to the continuous wailing during that hour, it was referred to as 'Sutnan-jang,' meaning 'the new road of wailing.' When photos capturing their situations were released, Seo Young-hee was unable to speak, saying, "It breaks my heart," while Chungha cried out, "I would want to run so much." Jang Seong-kyu mentioned that some described it as "children being torn away from their mothers," stating that when children became middle school students, they were forced to advance to Samyuk Academy in Daegu, and outside visits and difficult living conditions continued due to being children of Hansen's disease patients.
It was revealed that the forced isolation of Hansen's disease patients in South Korea began in 1916 during the Japanese colonial period, surprising many. The Japanese established a hospital for the treatment of Hansen's disease, called 'Jahye Hospital,' in Sorokdo, but its purpose was isolation rather than treatment. The Japanese even forced labor upon the patients and extracted money for erecting statues of the directors, and following the outbreak of the Pacific War, patients were mobilized to produce military supplies, and after their deaths, were subjected to autopsy against their will. However, even after liberation, nothing changed. The transmission rate of Hansen's disease is very low, and a treatment drug was developed in the 1940s, with most patients in Sorokdo having been cured. Despite this, autopsies continued until the 1960s, forced sterilizations until the 1970s, and abortions until the late 1980s. Some forced sterilizations continued until 1992.
In contrast to Japan, which has already apologized to its Hansen's disease victims, South Korean victims only succeeded in winning a Supreme Court ruling on government compensation claims in 2013. Jang Seong-kyu explained that "there are two things missing in Sorokdo: one is children, and the other is graves," stating that patients who passed away were cremated and that bones of more than one burial shared a plot. Chungha expressed, "I feel like I now understand Sorokdo. I am ashamed," and Jang Seong-kyu concluded, "I hope they can find peace even now," leaving a lasting impact.
[Photo] Provided by SBS
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