Tae Hoon Kim

Meet Tae Hoon Kim, a 45 year old man in South Korea who fosters 10 North Korean boys between the ages of 10 and 22, providing them with a loving home after they defected from North Korea without adults or family connections.

Tae never imagined that he would become a foster carer. While working in publishing, he began volunteering for Hanawon, a government-run resettlement facility in Seoul where defectors live for three months to prepare them for integration into life in the south.

While he was there, he met a North Korean mother could not take care of her 10 year old son. Tae offered to take care of the boy and continued taking in more North Korean children, one by one, until he officially registered as a ‘group home’. With six fridges to stock, two washing machines running and constant vacuuming, Tae is unable to hold down a regular job and although he’s eligible for handouts, has chosen to open a small café to gain some financial stability.

Despite the volume of household chores, Tae refuses ask the boys for help, arguing that the most important thing is that they are nurtured. "I don't ask them for anything other than to grow up with decent manners. That's how I was raised by my parents."