Broadcaster Lee Hong-ryeol recounted his experience of a major earthquake during his student days in Japan.
On the 21st episode of the talk show Sokpuri Show Dongchimi, the conversation continued under the theme 'the person closest to you is the most frightening.'
That day Lee Hong-ryeol said, "I emigrated twice, to Japan and the United States. I made all the decisions. My wife was a full-time homemaker, so she followed without objection." He went on to recall, "When I was 38 and my wife was 31, after graduating late from university we went to Japan to study abroad."
He mentioned something he heard from an acquaintance while studying abroad. "Lee Sang-mi contacted me saying, 'They say a big earthquake will come there. Get out quickly.' But one year after that, we experienced a big earthquake," he said.
The earthquake Lee Hong-ryeol referred to was a magnitude-7.8 quake that occurred in 1993 in the sea southwest of Hokkaido. At the time it was reported that more than 200 people were dead or missing.
He explained, "I was sleeping when it felt like someone was shaking the house. In Japan you can tell the degree of shaking by looking at the pull cord for the light, and it shook tremendously." He added, "My wife and I were holding on to each other, and when the earthquake stopped we saw our two children rolling around in the room."
Lee Hong-ryeol said, "The children looked at us with expressions that said, 'This is too much.'" He said, "So we decided that if another earthquake comes, each of us will take responsibility for one child." He added that at the time the children were four and two years old. <
[Photo] MBN 'Sokpuri Show Dongchimi' broadcast screen capture
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