A 34-year-old man shared an emotional first hug with his biological father in South Korea after traveling from America to find him. Ignaseio Cattlin, from Dallas, Texas, was 17 when he discovered his father was not his biological father. Ignaseio’s mom moved to the United States from Korea when she was pregnant, with both parents deciding that their child was to be raised in America. After Ignaseio’s biological father started a new life in Korea and married, he and Iggi’s mom lost contact. Over the decade after he found out about his past, Iggi searched for his biological father using the minimal information he had: his name – Sang-Pil Lee – hometown, university, potential birth year, and potential high school he attended. But the searches led nowhere. So he decided to travel to South Korea to search on foot. Ignaseio flew into Incheon on November 16, 2023, and immediately went to Daejeon to start his search. After many dead ends, Ignaseio eventually showed a local police officer a photo of his rather who immediately recognized the man in the image. On November 27, a nervous Ignaseio emotionally reunited with his biological father, with the pair heading toward each other for a tearful hug.
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 You guys, we did it.
00:02 Ignacio dreamed about this moment for 17 years.
00:06 I get to meet him for dinner tonight.
00:08 For 17 years of my life, I was told that I was half African-American, half Korean,
00:15 because my dad is African-American.
00:17 But when Ignacio found out his dad wasn't his biological father, the search for him began.
00:23 And without luck anywhere, he and his mom traveled to Korea to search on foot.
00:30 We went to the high school police station, public records, and all of them just kept coming up and saying no.
00:36 No, no, no. But we didn't give up hope.
00:40 That hope led them to find some helpful info for an officer, and then...
00:45 He says, "I just hung up on the phone with him, and he wants to meet you right away."
00:50 And from that moment, everything was kind of a blur, because I turned into a sobbing, blubbering mess.
00:56 So on the day before his 34th, Ignacio got the best early birthday gift ever.
01:04 The whole time, he's telling me, "Mia ne, mia ne," which is, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."
01:10 Because he's been trying to find me as well. He's always tried to locate me.
01:14 He's always wanted me to be a part of his life.
01:17 It was like there was a part of my life and my story and my heart that just came together in a way that I never felt before.
01:24 It was a very indescribable feeling.