Documentary Empathy 'Ulleungdo, a remote island on a summer day' What is happiness? Where did our mothers and fathers who raised us learn happiness? Our mothers and fathers who have become their own hometowns tell their children in this era who have left their hometowns and are living in Daejeo!!! Ulleungdo, a remote island across the vast East Sea. There is a village in the most remote part of Ulleungdo that has been called an island within an island since long ago. Everyone left the island in search of a comfortable world, a wide world, but there are people who could not leave their hometown because of memories of hardship, because of their children, and because of their age. What does it mean to live to these people, and what does hometown mean? And what have we not seen and what have we lost? What does remoteness really mean? ■ Our mothers, who are strong pillars of life just by being by our hometown called mothers and protecting our hometowns. The first person we met on Ulleungdo in search of our mothers was grandmother Kim Jae-seon (89), who lives alone at the foot of Seokbongsan Mountain. Last year around this time, my husband, who had been my lifelong friend, passed away, and my children told me to quit farming and come live with me in order to cope, but I couldn’t bear to leave this place because I was afraid that if I left, my children would have no hometown to visit. My children called me because they wanted to put anything big, pretty, or sweet in their mouths first. My children were waiting for me, preparing all kinds of food and putting on makeup. But this was the remote island of Ulleungdo. Even though I had prepared warm side dishes, my children’s steps were so slow that they said they would arrive soon, and time seemed to pass slowly for my grandmother… ■ The mountain field of my life At the foot of Seongsanbong Peak, 900m above sea level, on that steep hill lies the remote village of Seokpo. Grandmother Lee Mal-nam (90), whose back is as hunched as the steep, winding hill, and her fourth son Kim Han-geun (59), who is usually blunt but has deep feelings. A mother is not lonely because her son is by her side, and a son is not lonely because his mother is by his side... Grandmother Lee Mal-nam, who has worked hard without ever drying her fingertips, still works the mountain field with her rough hands. And there is no one in Seokpo who has not eaten potatoes from that field. What does the mountain field mean to Grandmother Lee Mal-nam that she still cannot give up her work at the age of 90? ■ A couple is an island to each other The market of the couple Park Sang-gyu (74) and Lee Chun-ja (74) is their vegetable garden. When you go to the vegetable garden, you can find a lot of wild chives, peppers, bellflowers, pumpkins, and figs. “If you are diligent, you can eat as much as you want here.” The self-sufficiency philosophy of the couple in the remote village is that if you do not get greedy, the land will feed you. The couple, who rarely go to town to buy groceries, now even cut their own hair. They are always there like an island, blocking the wind and protecting each other. On the outside, they are a couple who bicker, but like the saying goes, 'Wherever the needle goes, the thread follows', they are always together. #Ulleungdo #Island village #Seokpo village