Three brothers obtain Oriental medical doctor’s license in South


SEONGNAM, Gyeonggi Province ― In a cozy and welcoming oriental clinic, a smile never leaves the doctor’s face as he runs about greeting the steady flow of patients, answering the ceaseless phone calls and treating those who trust his hands and herbal medicine.

The 45-year-old doctor of Myohyangsan Oriental Medical Clinic gives a good impression on sight, which is then reinforced when he greets you in his approachable bright manner.

Engaged in a daily routine that would exhaust most, Park Su-hyun multitasks with an ease that immediately marks him out as a grafter, possibly from having spent the greater part of his life in North Korea.

Park defected from the North more than 18 years ago, and now runs a modest but successful clinic in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province.

Park has long been hailed in media reports as the first defector to pass the notoriously difficult state oriental medicine exam, and also the first to receive a doctorate. 

But he is no longer alone in his success story. His younger brother Sae-hyun, 35, passed the exam in 2009 and Tae-hyun, 40, his other brother, passed it just last month. All three brothers passed the exams on their third try. Their eldest brother, 47, is also doing well at a company.

In the North, Park Su-hyun, had studied oriental medicine for four years, in the hope of curing his ailing father.

“During my mandatory military service at Myohyang Mountain, I received a recommendation to enroll in Chungjin Medical School, which is the only way to be admitted,” Park told The Korea Herald.

He had never dreamed of continuing his practice here, but through luck or fate, his knowledge from the North propelled his future.

According to Park, med students in the North are often sent out to forage for medicinal herbs and many are left with no choice but to eat them to stave off their constant hunger, inadvertently familiarizing themselves with the herbs’ effects.

Park noticed that a South Korean official assigned to help him had problems with urination, and offered to make him a herbal remedy. Park was able to cure the symptoms of the official’s ailment that had lasted several years.

Recognizing Park’s talent, the official encouraged Park to enroll in Kyung Hee University’s famous oriental medical program.

“I never would have gotten in on my own,” said Park, who vowed to study hard to honor the official’s efforts.

However Park and his family’s achievements did not come easily. The family was faced with numerous difficulties as defectors ― overcoming the language barrier, accepting completely different social ideologies, defecting individually over a period of five years, and struggling to master English and Hanja, or Chinese characters, in their studies to become licensed doctors.

Park’s decision to defect also had consequences for his family in the North. After he fled from the North, members of his family left behind were persecuted.

“Since we all defected individually it was extremely difficult,” said Park. “I would have to send people to the North and pay for people to go in and bring out my family.”

The Park family of six made the treacherous journey over the border over three separate occasions.

Persecuted in the North, Park Sae-hyun was initially filled with resentment toward his brother, but saw how hard Park Su-hyun worked and the benefits he sowed, and decided to follow in his footsteps towards oriental medicine.

“My brother had never considered oriental medicine before, but he talked to friends and other defectors and they told him how I was better off than others that came from the North,” said Park Su-hyun.

His younger brother had never studied the subject before, but with the help and support from his older brother, he was able to become a licensed practitioner and establish a clinic under the same name as his brother in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province.

The middle of the three, Park Tae-hyun, who had just recently passed the state exam, also had no interest in studying oriental medicine. But after receiving a degree in physical therapy, he was guided by his brothers to become an oriental doctor. He struggled with his studies, but with encouragement from both brothers, and the entire family’s ceaseless drive to work hard, he was able to pass the exam on Jan. 28, giving the family something worth celebrating over the Seollal holiday.

“Studying here was challenging, but since life was so difficult there (North Korea), life does not seem hard here,” said Park Su-hyun.

But he also said that many defectors struggle to survive after several generations of different cultures, traditions, customs and ideological beliefs, but added that defectors need to recognize that they must start over, and that they are near the bottom of the social ladder.

“This does not change overnight, if you want to achieve something you need to set a 10-year goal and work hard at it,” said Park.

His next goal is to attend Harvard University, and he is currently studying English.

According to government data from 2010, less than a half of North Korean refugees aged over 15 were engaged in economic activities six months after settling down in the South in 2009.

A majority of the employed were engaged in menial labor in restaurants, construction sites or machinery assembly factories.

The number of North Korean defectors surpassed 20,000 in November of last year.

By Robert Lee (rjmlee@heraldcorp.com)