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Clay Twp. man solves 25-year-old mystery, reunites with mother in South Korea:
'It was beautiful'
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 * January 25, 2023
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Brice Smith stands with his mother, Kwan Sun Chang, during their recent reunion
in South Korea. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)


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Brice Smith stands with his mother, Kwan Sun Chang, during their recent reunion
in South Korea. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)


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Brice Smith is welcomed to South Korea on July 9, 2017, by his mother, left, and
other relatives. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)


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Brice Smith, at rear, takes a selfie with his mother, right, and other relatives
in South Korea. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)


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Brice Smith in a photo with his mother, Kwan Sun Chang, before she left the
United States. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)


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CLAY TWP. MAN SOLVES 25-YEAR-OLD MYSTERY, REUNITES WITH MOTHER IN SOUTH KOREA:
'IT WAS BEAUTIFUL'

 * TOM KNAPP | Staff Writer
 * Aug 11, 2017
 * Aug 11, 2017
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1 of 2

Brice Smith stands with his mother, Kwan Sun Chang, during their recent reunion
in South Korea. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)




Brice Smith stands with his mother, Kwan Sun Chang, during their recent reunion
in South Korea. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)




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Brice Smith was standing in a Turkey Hill parking lot when he was struck with an
irresistible urge to find his mother.

Smith, 26, of Clay Township, hadn’t seen her in nearly 25 years. He didn’t know
much about her, or why she abruptly returned to her native South Korea and never
returned.

“Something in my soul, something deep within my heart, hit me,” he recalls. “It
was an experience I’d never had before. I knew it was God calling me to go and
find my mother.”



It was overwhelming, he says.

“I was in tears,” Smith says. “I didn’t know anything about her. I didn’t know
what she looked like. I only knew her name.”

He got no encouragement from his father — who won’t discuss the woman he met at
a U.S. Air Force base in Korea and married in 1988 — or his older brother. Even
friends tried to dissuade him, he says.

“It might be one thing to find her in America, but to do that in a country where
you have no familiarity, no contacts ... people told me it was impossible,”
Smith says.

“But when I put my mind and I’m determined to do something, I find a way to get
it done. I just prayed for God to open doors because I didn’t know what I was
doing.”


‘STUNNING REVELATION’

Brice Smith in a photo with his mother, Kwan Sun Chang, before she left the
United States. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)

Born at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia, Smith grew up near Gettysburg. He
graduated from Penn State in 2013 and studied at the University of Cape Town,
South Africa.

A former caseworker for the Department of Human Services in Harrisburg, Smith is
assistant to the president of Justice & Mercy Inc., a criminal justice reform
group.

He doesn’t remember much about his mother. His father, when pressed, refused to
speak about her, he says.

His father got a “divorce in absentia” and remarried when Smith was in third
grade, he says. “Because I was still young, that became the norm for me.”

The desire to find his mom intensified when Smith developed a health problem
that made him wonder about his genetic history.

But it wasn’t until that “stunning revelation” at Turkey Hill on Oct. 28 that he
began looking in earnest.


‘STRUGGLING, EMOTIONALLY’

Armed only with her name and birth date, Smith started his search on social
media.

“I looked through hundreds of Facebook profiles for the name Kwan Sun Chang,” he
recalls. “But nothing solid was coming up.”

He sought advice from American politicians, scholars and military personnel. He
contacted Korean newspapers, police and public officials.

There were leads, he says, “but nothing came to fruition.”

He spent countless hours on the phone, begging Korean agencies for help. His
confidence waned.

“I wasn’t always sure I wanted to do it,” he admits. “I was struggling,
emotionally.”


‘IT WAS BEAUTIFUL’

The Seoul Global Center was helpful, Smith says. But Smith’s best resource
proved to be the Rev. Jong Chul Kim, pastor of Holy Covenant Korean Presbyterian
Church on Rohrerstown Road.



Jong could not be reached for comment. However, Smith says the pastor used data
on his parents’ marriage certificate and some Korean detectives to track her
down.

On June 3, he called to tell Smith she’d been found. On June 5, Smith and his
mother spoke on the phone.

“We really connected,” he says. “It was beautiful.”

He flew to Seoul on July 9 to meet her, plus a bevy of cousins, aunts and
uncles.

He spent 2½ weeks exploring the densely populated nation and getting to know his
new Korean family, most of whom speak little to no English.


‘FAMILY EMERGENCY’

His first meeting with his mother was awkward, Smith says. She was quiet, and it
was several days before she would let him hug her.

By the time he left, he says, she didn’t want to let go.

“She told me she loves my brother and I, and she always hoped she would see us
again,” he says.

Brice Smith is welcomed to South Korea on July 9, 2017, by his mother, left, and
other relatives. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)

Smith won’t say why his mother left the U.S., noting only that it was “a very
serious family emergency” that triggered her exit.

A lack of funds and “a serious disability” kept her from returning, he says.

She never remarried, he says, and wanted to hear all about his and his brother’s
lives since she left.

“The time over there far exceeded my expectations,” Smith says. “It was more
than anything I could have thought, asked or imagined. It was fun, it was
laughter, it was smiles.

“It was very healing for me, personally.”

Since coming home, Smith has kept in touch with his mother by phone and text. He
will visit her again, he says.


‘LIFE-CHANGING’

Smith was startled to be the subject of much media attention in South Korea.

In a telephone interview with Alex Jensen on English-language radio station TBS
eFM, “The Heart of Seoul,” Smith described the “life-changing and breathtaking”
experience of his reunion.

In the 10-minute interview, Jensen said people “will be tremendously inspired”
by Smith’s journey.

Brice Smith, at rear, takes a selfie with his mother, right, and other relatives
in South Korea. (Photo provided by Brice Smith.)

“I’ve heard this type of story repeatedly,” Jensen said. “We have family members
on either side of the Korean border who are separated, we have adoptees who’ve
been trying to reconnect with their birth parents.”

Circumstances in “a very turbulent 20th century” left many families dealing with
“this kind of separation,” the radio host said.

“Even though you were the one that reached out to her, it must have been
something gnawing at her for many years,” Jensen said.

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