Following last month’s reunions between families split for decades by the Korean division, the experiences of relatives separated by the North Korea-China border provide a compelling point of comparison. Lacking the abrupt and seemingly irreversible tone of inter-Korean division, the family histories of the many Korean Chinese (chosonjok) in this region seem extraordinary multi-generational tales of accidental escape. 

Rany – a pseudonym – and I are sitting by a window in the Yanji branch of Café Kacao, part of a Chinese chain based in Shanghai but with a strong South Korean aesthetic, on the 13th floor of a commercial tower block in Yanji’s ramshackle central district. As the late fall dusk draws in, a long streak of red commuter taillights files along the road below toward the looming hills beyond the northern edge of town.