When a North Korean agent hijacked the Korean Air flight carrying his father and forced the pilot to land in North Korea in December 1969, Hwang In-cheol, who was just two years old at the time, did not know how the incident would later shape his own life. After international outcry, Pyongyang promised to repatriate all 50 passengers and crew on Feb. 4, 1970, only to break its promise by sending back 39 of them. His father, a producer for broadcaster MBC, was not on that list.