Mother’s oldest sister, and Hyeonseo and Min-ho’s aunt. Aunt Old is a sad and lonely woman, and after Father is detained by the North Korean government when returning from a business trip to China, Mother tells Hyeonseo why Aunt Old is so sad. In the 1960s, Aunt Old married a Korean-Chinese man against Grandmother’s wishes. He grew tired of North Korea and wanted to go back to China, but Aunt Old refused, so he went back alone and was arrested by North Korean police before reaching the border and sent to a prison camp for life. To save the family’s songbun, Grandmother arranged a divorce for Aunt Old and put her three children up for adoption. The story of Aunt Old illustrates the lengths some people will go to in order to preserve their family’s songbun, a notion which has particular significance after Father’s own arrest.