U.S. Army veteran Sae Joon Park received a Purple Heart after being shot twice by enemy forces while serving in Panama. (Sae Joon Park)
BUSAN, South Korea — Nearly a year after leaving the United States to avoid immigration detention, U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient Sae Joon Park is struggling to build a life in a country he barely knows.
Park, 56, immigrated from Seoul as a child and spent nearly his entire life in the States. He enlisted in the Army at 19 and deployed to Panama during the 1989 U.S. military operation that ousted Gen. Manuel Noriega.
While eating lunch with fellow soldiers near the Panama Canal, Park came under enemy fire and was shot twice in the back. One bullet struck his dog tag, deflecting some of the impact, while the other narrowly missed vital organs.
“When I took an X-ray, I lit up like a Christmas tree from all of the shrapnel left inside my body,” he said in an interview May 26.
Doctors later told him he arrived at the hospital with only minutes to spare, he said.
U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient Park Sae Joon poses in Busan, South Korea, May 26, 2026. (Julie Masson/Stars and Stripes)
Although the injuries earned him a Purple Heart, Park’s military career was short. Less than a year into his service, he tested positive for cocaine and received a general discharge under honorable conditions.
His addiction continued for years and, he said, was compounded by post-traumatic stress disorder.
In 2007, Park was arrested in New York for drug possession. While on probation, he fled to Hawaii fearing he would fail a court-ordered drug test. After U.S. marshals found him, he was convicted of drug possession and second-degree bail jumping and served about 2½ years in prison.
“When I finally went to prison, I guess that was my real rock bottom,” he said.
Park said immigration authorities later classified the bail-jumping conviction as an aggravated felony, making him deportable despite his status as a lawful permanent resident.
Although he knew the conviction carried immigration consequences, Park believed years of good behavior would allow him to remain in the country.
For the next 13 years, he said, he stayed out of trouble, worked and paid taxes.
“I risked my life at such a young age for this country,” he recalled telling himself.
But last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Park and gave him three weeks to leave the country or face detention.
U.S. Army veteran Sae Joon Park received a Purple Heart after being shot twice by enemy forces while serving in Panama. (Sae Joon Park)
“I was shocked and in disbelief,” he said.
Park arrived in Seoul on June 24, his first time in South Korea in three decades.
“It was literally like coming to a brand-new country,” he said.
He initially lived with his 91-year-old father before moving out, saying the stigma surrounding his deportation strained family relationships.
His mother, who lives in Hawaii, suffers from dementia. Fighting back tears, Park said he calls her regularly, but each conversation begins the same way — reminding her that he no longer lives nearby.
Today, Park lives in a small apartment in Busan. Unable to read or write Korean, he said he has struggled to find work.
Park is working with Honolulu immigration attorney Danicole Ramos to pursue legal avenues that could allow him to return to the United States.
Ramos petitioned New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for a pardon in December and has asked the Queens County District Attorney’s Office to allow Park to replead his bail-jumping conviction as a misdemeanor.
“This pardon application is about redemption,” Ramos said in a Jan. 14 news release. “A pardon will recognize that people are more than the worst moments of their lives.”
Ramos declined by email Tuesday to comment further on the case while it’s pending.
As of Thursday, more than 17,000 people had signed a Change.org petition supporting Park’s efforts to return.
“I admit that I made mistakes,” he said. “But at the same time, I did my prison time.”
