Mother Who Was Denied Access To Her Son For Years Finally Gets The Best Reunion
In the 1980s things were not going particularly well for Jane Kim. The South Korean national’s marriage had crumbled, and her home life in her native country had subsequently begun to dissolve. Then, as a result of manipulation by her mother-in-law, she reluctantly agreed to an arrangement that she would live to regret, and fight to change, across the next 40 years.
Finding love and starting a family
Little different to many young women in South Korea in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Jane dreamed of finding love and starting a family. Her hopes in that regard seemed to have come true when she wed a Korean man whose name has not been publicly revealed.
During the course of their marriage, Jane and her husband would go on to have a baby together. That child would be a son, whom they named Brian Oh. But their marital bliss — if it ever was that — was unfortunately not fated to last.
Finalizing divorce
For whatever reason, Jane and her Korean husband would eventually fall out of love and part company. Their marriage was clearly deemed to be unsaveable by one or the other — or perhaps both of them — and the split would be finalized with a divorce soon afterwards.
At the time Jane and her spouse got the necessary approval to legally separate, their only son was not much over two years old. In fact, given that he had been so young, later on Brian would likely never remember a time when his biological parents had been together.
Aiming for custody
Of course, one of the main issues that the split of Jane and her husband would throw up was who would get main custody of their son. As it happened, Jane came from a relatively poor family in South Korea, whilst her husband had a more affluent background.
Still, Jane was determined to be the main parent and care-giver for her son and sought to bring up her young boy in her own home. Her maternal instincts were strong, and she tried her best to keep hold of Brian.
Change in mindset
Those were her initial intentions, anyway. But not too far down the line, things began to change somewhat in Jane’s mind. Her motherly instincts began to be blunted to the point at which she countenanced allowing her ex-husband and his family to take custody of her infant.
A third party had begun to get in Jane’s ear, and she was able to influence Jane in a way that made her question her own suitability as Brian’s mother. That person was her husband’s mom, Jane’s former mother-in-law.
Chipped away
Of course, Jane still wanted to see her son, but she had begun to seriously doubt whether she was best-placed to raise him compared with her ex-husband and his family. Her mother-in-law seemed to have a definite agenda to work on her son’s ex-wife daily and drive her away from her son.
As a result, Jane’s self-confidence as a mom was chipped away at on a near-daily basis by her ex-husband’s mother. For instance, she claims she had been regularly showered with cutting assessments about her abilities as a mom.
Concerted efforts
Reportedly, her ex-mother-in-law repeatedly relayed to Jane her belief that she was unable to provide Brian with the life that he ought to have. What’s more, she’d worked hard to convince Jane to let her son’s father’s family “raise him for you.”
Jane revealed the extent of her former mom-in-law’s efforts during that period over 40 years ago in a recent interview with Good Morning America. She said, “Almost every day [Brian’s] grandma talks to me, persuades me.”
Wealth gap
Jane also revealed that her mother-in-law pushed the issue of the wealth-gap that lay between her on her hand, and her ex-husband and his family on the other. In fact, that appeared to be a big part of her rhetoric, focusing on claims that Jane was unable to give Brian the life he deserved.
That’s not to say there wasn’t some truth to this argument. Wealth-wise, Jane couldn’t compete with her ex and his family. She admitted to Good Morning America, “Financially, they were living so well in Korea, and I had nothing.”
Caving in
It was this reason primarily that led Jane to cede to her former mother-in-law’s demands. Jane begrudgingly agreed that her ex-husband’s greater wealth would mean better life chances for her son. She was leading a fairly humble existence, after all.
It was a heart-rending decision for the mom, but she eventually felt it was the best one to make: a personal sacrifice for the greater good. Jane later told Good Morning America, “That's why I decided that they [could] keep my baby... I thought that I [could] see him if I wanted.”
Colossal mistake
But sadly, Jane would prove to be badly mistaken in her belief that she would be able to see her son if she so desired. No, in reality, Jane had made a colossal error in trusting her mother-in-law and ex-husband. As it turned out, once they had secured chief custody of Brian, the pair had no intention of allowing Jane to see him again.
Jane — who had emigrated to the United States from her native South Korea — was subsequently denied any access to her son by her ex-husband and his mother. This included not only personal visits or time together, but in future years even being able to speak to him on the phone or write to him.
Painful realization
Of course, being told that she could no longer contact or see her own son had been heartbreaking for Jane. She told Good Morning America how “that was really painful” and admitted from that moment on she didn't think she would ever see Brian again.
How her ex-husband and his mom were able to bring about this state of affairs is another matter. But their family — who also moved to the United States with Brian in tow — successfully prevented the boy’s mom from seeing her son for four decades.
Brian’s move to the U.S.
When he was three years old, Brian first went back to South Korea with his family. His poppa would remarry, and after a period in their homeland, Brian was taken back to the U.S. by his father and his stepmother in 1989.
Of course, Brian’s memory of his real mother Jane was non-existent. He had been too young when he was taken away from her to remember or even realize her existence. Given that his father had never told him about her, he simply believed that his stepmother was his real mother.
Shocking family secret
As a result, the young Brian would live out his earliest childhood years completely unaware of the fabric of lies that his father and mother-in-law had weaved. But all that would change by the time he hit the third grade.
Yes, by chance, when he reached the tender age of eight or nine, Brian would discover this shocking family secret. After going into his sister’s room, his curiosity got the better of him. Brian picked something of hers that he shouldn’t have, and began to read it.
Reading his sister’s diary
Brian revealed to Good Morning America what it was that he had read in his sister’s bedroom on that fateful day. He said, “In third grade, I actually went into my sister.s diary, and that's where I found out.”
As you by now will have guessed, ‘what he found out’ was that his father’s wife wasn’t his biological mother, but merely his stepmom: his father and she had been lying to him. This sparked a realization for Brian that his birth mom “was out there somewhere.”
Abuse claims
As shocking as it might have been for Brian to discover his stepmother wasn’t his biological mom and his blood relation was out in the wider world who knew where, it might have come as something of a relief for him, too. That’s because Brian claimed his stepmom had often been cruel to him, subjecting him to regular abuse.
In any case, Brian’s unearthing of this fact proved a major turning-point in his young life, laying bare lies that he had been fed by his father, step-mom, and grandma in his early years. Things would never be the same for him again.
Confronting his parents
After discovering the truth in his sister’s diary, Brian confronted his father and stepmom about his birth mom. But the boy’s attempts to find out more about his mother and where she lived were met with a wall of silence.
The door, it seemed, was well and truly closed on Brian with regard to his birth mom. His parents would not discuss it with him, and he was left with many unanswered questions, and little hope of seeing his real mother again.
Jane soldiers on
Meanwhile, Jane had to get on with her life, seemingly without any real prospect of seeing her first child, or knowing exactly where he was living. It must have been a real wrench for her to have more or less given up hope of reuniting with Brian.
Still, Jane did have one final trump card up her sleeve. Unbeknown to her ex-husband and his mom, Brian’s America-based birth mother had one avenue for garnering some information about her first son.
A source of information
That source was an unnamed contact, a mutual friend of both her and her husband’s family. They were able to find out things about Brian and relay them to Jane: in short, they were in the know.
Exactly who that person was is not yet clear. It may have been an aunt, or another family member, or maybe just a close friend. Either way, this person was able to keep Jane slightly in the loop about her first son; this would prove vital to a most emotional moment several decades later.
Four decades pass
Eventually, four decades would pass by from the time Jane was first separated from her young son by her ex-husband and his mother. And doubtless those 40 years must have felt like an eternity for Jane.
By 2023 the Korean mom was living in Portland, Oregon. She had tried to move on with life as best as she could, and she had given birth to another son sometime within that 40-year period; his name was Ed.
Brian’s father’s death
In late 2023 a seismic event would occur within the family: Brian’s father passed away. Despite all that had gone on regarding barring him from seeing his birth mother, it was doubtless still a moment of grief for his son.
The circumstances of his death are unclear, with no information released on whether it had been sudden and unexpected, or the result of a long illness. All the same, the passing of Brian’s father would be the catalyst for a remarkable chain of events.
Handed a note at the funeral
At the funeral of his father in late 2023 Brian was passed a piece of paper by a mourner. That person was the very same one who had supplied Jane with tidbits of information about him, and who was on good terms with both sides of Brian’s family.
That scrap of paper passed in a clandestine manner by this family friend — along with a verbal instruction — would have something on it that was proved of great interest to him. But what was it?
Mom’s phone number
Well, as it turns out, the family friend had scribbled the phone number of Brian’s real mom on that scrap of paper. Incredibly, after all these years, Brian now finally had a means of contracting his biological mother.
Recalling what happened that day to Good Morning America, Brian said, “On the day of the funeral, [the family friend] came up to me and she gave me a slip of paper and said, ‘That's your mom's phone number, so give her a call.’”
Brian receives a text
After he had left the funeral, Brian was almost ready to call the phone number given to him. But before he had built up the courage to press the digits into his phone, he heard and felt a vibration emanating from the device.
It was his biological mom Jane. She had obviously got hold of Brian’s number too, and she had acted first. Indeed, Jane told Good Morning America, “I couldn't even stand [to wait for him]. I sent a text message, ‘I'm your mom. Just wanted to call.’”
Talking all night
Jane had successfully broken the ice with her son, after around four decades without speaking to him at all. The phone call subsequently took place: it must have been surreal and joyous moment for them both.
Ed later revealed in a viral video that his mom Jane and half-brother Brian had been “up all night” chatting to one another, during an hours-long phone conversation. It must have been an emotional call, but a still-more significant — and tear-jerking moment — was on the way.
Telling Ed
Of course, Jane naturally told her other son Ed about her phone call with her estranged boy, Brian. Ed was doubtless thrilled himself that he could finally speak to and get acquainted with his half-brother. But then the pair of them realized they could go further and travel to meet up with Brian in person.
Yes, Ed and his mother were going to take a trip to Palm Springs together soon after the time of the call. But all of a sudden, when they learned some extra vital information, they had a still better idea.
The Korean Mama
Social-media savvy Ed helms popular TikTok and Instagram accounts entitled “The Korean Mama,” which you’ve guessed it, features his mom very heavily. Ed uploads many heartwarming clips of Jane and him up to various escapades, but once they had figured out where Brian lived, Ed hatched a plan for a video that would rapidly go viral.
Ed explained how it had all gone down to Good Morning America. He said, “You know, we started doing TikTok and Instagram, and we always just go to new places and do food videos. And I thought, why don't we go to Palm Springs?”
Canceling Palm Springs
But that idea was soon jettisoned after Jane and Brian Oh had belatedly reconnected by phone. Ed continued, “Once they got reconnected, mom called me and said, ‘Hey, I just talked to Brian till, like, 5:00 a.m.’ In my head I was thinking, ‘You guys waited, like, almost 40 years; Palm Springs can wait.’”
Yes, as Ed had hinted, he and Jane decided to cancel their Palms Springs sojourn and instead head for where Brian resided. That, as he had told Jane on the phone, was the biggest city in southern California: Los Angeles.
Flying from Portland to L.A.
So, Jane and Ed headed for Portland airport, and from there took a flight to LAX. Ed filmed part of the experience for the Korean Mama social-media accounts, which to date have 300,000 Instagram followers and over 600,000 TikTok subscribers. The first part of Ed Kim’s video shows an excited but slightly nervous Jane as they make their way to Los Angeles on a commercial flight.
But when they land at LAX, the drama and the tension really goes up several notches. “When I got off the plane, my heart is beating — like, pounding. And my heart is racing,” Jane later recalled to Good Morning America. That trepidation is evident from watching Ed’s video anyway, which follows his mom through the huge airport.
The hug at LAX
Then, after some time walking through the vast LAX airport dragging her suitcase and desperately trying to find her son, it happens: Jane is coming down an escalator when she sees him right in front of her. The look on her face is pure shock and emotion.
Jane and Brian then embrace in a heartwarming bearhug, as Ed captures it all on camera. The sobbing is apparent — from both of them. Indeed, Brian later admitted to Good Morning America, “I wanted to be like, ‘Hey Mom!’ But then right when I saw her, it just hit me again… I just kind of sobbed with her.”
Looking to make up for lost time
Shortly after the hug, Brian and Jane walk hand-in-hand around the airport, the tears that had been running down their faces still evident. The wholesome moment quickly went viral on TikTok after Ed posted it on the social-media site. Soon, 7 million people had tuned in to the clip, and they were presumably sobbing just as much as the reacquainted mother and son by the end of it! Ed revealed that he, his brother, and their mother have been in contact plenty since. So perhaps there is more heart-bursting content on the way featuring the three of them.
The story seemed to have particular resonance for Korean families, as Ed explained. He told Good Morning America, “A lot of Korean families are going through very similar things — they were separated at birth or separated from their family members — and a lot of Korean adoptees are trying to reconnect with their birth families. For that reason, I'm really glad to have posted that video. I think it provided a lot of healing for a lot of people too. I’m just really excited to see where this all takes us.”