I’m banned from visiting my family in North Korea. When will the US change this policy?

Myong-dong, the Downtown shopping area in Seoul, South Korea. While the two Korean governments have facilitated a handful of brief ‘reunions’ between residents of South and North Korea, Korean Americans have been left out of this process entirely. — TNS

MY grandfather rarely spoke, except through his saxophone. He was a man of few words but a lot of heart. I can’t pinpoint when exactly I learned that he was born in what is now called North Korea, but I do remember thinking, “I’m too old to be learning this for the first time.”

Like thousands of Korean Americans, my family is still divided by the ongoing war in Korea and the current United States travel ban to North Korea.