I have just witnessed something quite extraordinary. One hour ago, two people hugged ferociously in the reception area of SBS TV, where I work. It was a carefully planned surprise reunion. One, Hyeonseo Lee, is a North Korean defector. The other, Dick Stolp, is an affable Aussie bloke. This is the first time they have seen each other since Dick helped Hyeonseo bring her family from North to South Korea four years ago in random act of kindness.
Here’s the background: Hyeonseo went to great lengths to flee North Korea and to bring her family out as well. But Hyeonseo’s plan fell apart when her family members were caught in Laos while en route to the South Korean embassy there and were placed in detention. Out of luck and out of money, Hyeonseo had no idea where to turn.
Enter Dick. Dick was backpacking through Laos and recognised Hyeonseo, crying in a café, as a young lady he had met briefly on a bus a few weeks earlier. After hearing her story, he withdrew $1000 and gave it to her. That money ultimately helped get Hyeonseo’s mum and brother out of detention and on a plane to safety in Seoul. In the chaotic aftermath, Hyeonseo lost contact with Dick and ever since she’s been trying to find him again, to thank him.
So we decided to bring them together for Insight. We thought a surprise for Hyeonseo would work best … but that would mean lying to her by saying Dick was not coming. We also had to strike the balance of keeping Hyeonseo interested enough to come all the way to Australia.
Her main motivation for doing a show in Australia was to meet Dick again. Heck, every time I spoke to her that was the first question she’d ask me. And the second. And the third. I took the bold move of contacting her fiancé in order to involve him in this ever developing conspiracy. Brian loved the plan and assured us that he would make sure Hyeonseo was on the plane. Meanwhile, Dick was in on the plan too. He emailed Hyeonseo saying he had a meeting in Bangkok and was hoping to fly to Australia afterwards, depending on the success of his meeting - which in a pantomimeque tragedy would not go to plan. The stage was set.
There’s a nervous excitement on any show day that is ramped up when it’s a live broadcast like tonight’s is. Throw in an emotional reunion and we were reaching fever pitch. Well, at least that’s how I felt.
I had never done anything like this in my career before. The whole operation was fraught with difficulty and was almost foiled by Hyeonseo’s reluctance to come to Sydney without knowing Dick was coming; convincing management that it was a good idea to fly them both in; a chance encounter at the airport (as their flights arrived in at around the same time). But it was worth it to see her face when she met Dick in the SBS foyer. And it was worth it to realise that I could play a small role in reuniting her with him. Afterall, not only did his money get Hyeonseo, her mother and her brother to safety, it was also an act of kindness that restored her faith in humanity.
