“I was a three-year-old riding on my auntie’s back when I boarded the last ship headed south from the now-North Korean city of Hamhung during the Korean war,” the 76-year-old You says, referring to the large-scale evacuation operations conducted by America’s X Corps during the war.
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As the situation turned quickly in favour of the communist North with the massive intervention of the Chinese military, the X Corps orchestrated a retreat from the eastern port of Hungnam, 181 kilometres (112 miles) northeast of Pyongyang, amid blisteringly cold weather in December of 1950, four months after the war broke out.
After throwing supplies and weapons overboard to make space for people aboard naval vessels, the X Corps evacuated nearly 100,000 North Korean civilians between December 15 and 23, who were at risk of being killed by the communist army.
After arriving in the southern port city of Busan, You and his family took refuge in Uam-dong’s Samok (“cow barn” in Korean) village, together with around 370 other North Korean refugee families. They gathered in buildings that used to serve as barns for cows that were exported to Japan during the 1910-1945 colonial occupation.
In March 1953, his family, which ran a restaurant back in the North for 30 years, opened a noodle place in Busan to make ends meet.
They named the eatery Naeho, after the North Korean seaside village the family came from. It was a small restaurant that used leftover wooden boxes as tables and there were no chairs.
They were able to buy a noodle machine using hard-earned money from selling snacks. There was just enough space inside the restaurant to fit five to 10 guests at a time.
“My great grandparents kept the recipe true to the original, but had to give it some local twists,” You says. “Instead of potato starch, which was expensive and hard to obtain, they used more wheat flour, which was among the supplies distributed by the American army.”
The dish features wheat noodles that have a juicy and chewy texture, topped with strips of fresh cucumbers, radishes and half a boiled egg, with a scoop of cold beef broth poured over them.
Additionally, You’s grandparents added the spicy and salty pepper paste that people of the region were familiar with, to appeal to local tastes.
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The North Korean winter speciality became comfort food not only for North Korean refugees but also labourers in the port city that was undergoing rapid industrialisation, providing a quick and affordable meal.
The noodles soon gained nationwide attention through media coverage and turned into an iconic dish. Several other milmyeon restaurants popped up in Busan, each showcasing different interpretations of the dish.
Meanwhile, the North Korean refugees, who longed to return to their homeland and reunite with their families, failed to see reunification happen in their lifetime. You’s late father drew a map of his village on a piece of paper and wrote his last words on it.
“Initially, my parents thought they could return in three to four months,” You says. “We waited years and years, and my siblings were born, but that never happened. That’s how Busan became my family’s new hometown.”
Today, the southern port city is home to over 500 milmyeon restaurants. Some are run by North Korean descendants like You.
Hwangsan Naengmyeon, near Busan Station, is another milmyeon restaurant, its name a combination of “Hwang” from North Korea’s Hwanghae province and “san” from Busan. It was established by a North Korean refugee named Kim Chang-sik in 1975 and has been run by three generations of his family.
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Kim, who fled from the North at a young age after everyone in his family was killed by communist soldiers, opened the noodle restaurant, longing for his homeland and lost family members. Like You’s father, he also drew a map of his village, which still hangs on the wall of the restaurant.
“My hometown Yeonbaek of Hwanghae province is so close that it can be reached within 30 minutes to an hour by boat from Gangwha Island of Gyeonggi province. Yet, I have never made it to my hometown for 64 years,” Kim wrote in his hand-drawn map of his hometown. “My dear son, daughter-in-law, daughter and son-in-law, please visit my old hometown in Hwanghae even after my death.”
The hand-drawn map features a 900-year-old ginkgo tree, farmlands, reservoirs and houses of neighbours who lived in Kim’s village. He died in 2015.
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While he was alive, Kim made copies of the map and distributed them to other North Korean refugees who visited the restaurant, according to Kim Yoo-kyung, his daughter-in-law who runs the restaurant with her husband.
You and his descendants also follow their parents’ last wish to “never relocate the fireplace for cooking” and remain in the small, narrow alley where his family first settled, regardless of how his business prospered.
The restaurant, now big enough to accommodate over 80 guests at a time, is widely sought after and praised by locals, media, food connoisseurs and tourists. In the hot summer season, people form long queues to get a taste of the local speciality.
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You has seen his father’s map countless times, but he says it still brings tears to his eyes every time he looks at it. It also makes numerous like-minded regulars of North Korean origin cry, who still long desperately to reunite with their separated families across the border.
“I wish our restaurant will stay here for another two to three hundred years, as my parents wished,” You says. “My father always told me, there should never be another war. I don’t think I will see reunification in my lifetime, but at least, there should never be another war again.”
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