GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — Their nicknames, bestowed upon them long ago: "Kimchi 1" and "Kimchi 5," babies born aboard a ship that was helping them flee a war and a regime that, thanks to their rescuers, they'd never have to face.
Sohn Yang Young says he owes his life to the U.S. military. So does his friend Lee Gyeong Pil. They were among five babies born on an American ship that ferried 14,000 Korean refugees, including their parents, from North Korea in one of the world's largest humanitarian evacuation operations ever.
U.S. sailors from a ship called the SS Meredith Victory named the babies Kimchi 1 through Kimchi 5, nicknames that have become a symbol of the South Korean-U.