“And Thereafter,” a 56-minute documentary on a Korean war bride, is the heartbreaking tale of a modern-day Job. Young Ja Wike lost her husband and four children to the Korean War. She later married an American G.I., moved to the United States and raised three children — Jimmy, Timmy and Elaine — with her husband, the man she calls Haraboji, Korean for “Grandfather.”

The 76-year-old lives in South New Jersey, preferring to spend time alone in her pepper garden than with her family, who abuse her verbally and emotionally. Jimmy and Timmy, both bachelors in their 40s, live at home. Neither has a permanent job and regularly hit up their mother for cash. Jimmy is a U.S. Army veteran who collects G.I. Joe figurines and pornographic tapes and berates his mother to “Shut up, you stupid.” Timmy is a twice-convicted drug dealer. Elaine appears once in the film — when she comes by to demand $6,000 from her mother. When Young Ja protests, Elaine silences her by saying it’s the least her mother can do for failing to protect her when her father molested her.

“And Thereafter” was directed, produced and edited by Hosup Lee. It is the first in a three-part series on Korean war brides. Lee, who worked for several years at KBS Media Enterprises as a documentary producer, studied filmmaking at the City College of New York. “And Thereafter,” part of his master’s thesis, won Best Documentary and Best Cinematography awards at Cityvisions 2001, an annual event at which film students screen their work. “And Thereafter” will screen next at the San Diego Asian Film Festival, which runs from Sept. 29 to Oct. 6, and for which Lee plans to attend. KoreAm caught up with him on the telephone from his home in New Jersey.

Hosup Lee abandoned engineering and became a filmmaker instead. “Documentary–making, for me, requires logic and a lot of perseverance,” said Lee. “It fits my personality, and makes sense with my engineering background.”

What inspired you to make this film?

I’d been planning to do a documentary on Korean American immigration for the 100th anniversary in 2003. As I was gathering material, I came across a photo of a war bride. She was smiling and looked happy. But I know that Koreans call women who marry American military men “Western sluts.” I wanted to learn more about Korean war brides, but found that there wasn’t much work done on them largely because it is considered very shameful in Korean society. I was interested in what their lives were like after they got married and moved to America.

How did you find your subject, Young Ja Wike?

I managed to track down 100 war brides throughout the U.S., through Korean churches and military base churches. There were some who had happy lives and were more or less integrated into the nearby Korean community, but most were isolated. The Korean community sees these women as yanggongju, “Western slut.” Interracial marriages these days are different from what they were in the past. Back then, it was very much a power relationship. Such women are looked down upon, shunned. The community doesn’t want to mingle with them.