A family tells a heartwarming story of a reunion between a mother and daughter after 40 years

On December 16, Green Umbrella Children's Fund conducted a long-lost reunion between 44-year-old Lee Jung Mi and her mother and 48-year-old older sister Lee Jung Ok. This reunion, which can be seen in the clip above, marked the first time Lee Jung Mi has seen her family in over 40 years.

According to reports, the mother first parted with Jung Mi when she was just four-years-old in 1974. As the mother was experiencing some difficulty, she brought her two daughters Jung Mi and Jung Ok to her older brother's place in Gyeonggi Province. She asked her brother to take care of her daughters and promised that she would return for them when her circumstances were better.

Unfortunately, the brother's financial circumstances worsened, and he was unable to raise both daughters. And so, he took Jung Mi to a foster family in Seoul. According to reports, although Jung Ok was saddened to be separated from her sister, she was happy thinking that her sister would live in better conditions. She didn't realize that they would remain separated for more than 40 years.

When Jung Ok was 16, she was able to see her mother. However, by that time Jung Mi's foster family had abandoned Jung Mi, and Jung Mi was forced to move to another foster family before she was adopted by an old couple in the city of Jeonju. It thus became difficult for Jung Ok and her mother to locate Jung Mi's whereabouts.

At first, Jung Mi didn't think to look for her family as she thought they had abandoned her. However, when a close friend told her, "Someone who looks a lot like you is anxiously looking for a younger sister," Jung Mi decided to conduct a DNA test to see if that someone happened to be her older sister. Although the test turned out negative, this moment inspired Jung Mi to look for her actual family members. With the help of the police, she then submitted her DNA to a gene registry.

Meanwhile, Jung Mi's mother and sister posted an advertisement in the local newspaper, labeling Jung Mi as a missing person. They put in all their efforts to look for Jung Mi, but it was only until last October when Jung Mi's mother submitted her DNA via the Green Umbrella Children's Fund to the gene registry that she could finally find her long-lost daughter.

When Jung Mi and her mother finally met, all they could do was hug and cry each other as the mother sobbed, "Aigoo my baby. Mom is sorry. Is this a dream? Is this reality?"

Jung Mi expressed her anxiety to the press, saying, "I was awake all night thinking things like, 'What kind of appearance would my mom have?', 'Would she look like me?'" She continued, "I definitely want to apologize for misunderstanding her and thinking she abandoned me." 

In the end, Jung Mi's mother and Jung Ok thanked the Green Umbrella Children's Fund and the police for aiding them in their search, saying, "Thank you for finding [Jung Mi]. I don't know how we can repay your kindness."