Films with: Storey, Jonathan

Across land, across sea

Songgook and Sueryun are a newly wed North Korean couple now living in the South. As is the case for an estimated 20,000 defectors who have built or are trying to build a new life in South Korea, they are attempting to secure their entire family's freedom by arranging their defection along with them to the South. This phenomenon has been coined "chain of escapes". The Songgook couple's family members have contacted them to seek assistance to escape the North. Songgook puts his life at risk, making a dangerous trek to the Tumen River, a border zone between China and North Korea. He makes plans to lead a daring escape: to smuggle his family into the South by boat. Because of the extreme danger associated with this journey, this kind of attempt is very rare.

DVD 9256

Itinerary of a rebel

"In order to generate sufficient means for his wife left behind in North Korea to survive, Han accepts a job as a lumberjack in a camp situated in Siberia. The North Korean government in ruthless deals with Russian entrepreneurs offers willing citizens the opportunity to 'work' in labor camps abroad. The wages are directly paid to the government who promise to pass the money on to the families left behind. When Han finds out that none of his wages have reached his wife he escapes and, in an epic journey, crosses the whole of Siberia. His destination is Moscow, where he plans to request refugee status in a Western embassy."--Container.

DVD 9257