[1] In January 1999, Jang Gil-su and his family, living in Hoeryeong, North Hamgyeong Province, crossed the Tumen River into China.
In March 2000, Jang Gil-su’s mother, Chung Sun-mi, was repatriated and handed over to the North Korean State Security Agency.
[5] In 2004, Jang Gil-su graduated from high school three years from the time he first arrived in South Korea.
[6] In a letter sent to South Korean Ambassador to the United States, Yang Sung-chul, on August 13, 2002, Senator Sam Brownback, supported by Senator Edward Kennedy, invited teenage defector Jang Kil-soo and his family to a photograph exhibition and reception in their honor to be held in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in early September, and the senators urged the South Korean government to allow Jang to visit it.
Jang's memoir, 눈물로 그린 무지개, or The Rainbow I Painted With My Tears: A refugee boy's story in his own words and drawings, was published by Moonhak Soochop (Seoul).