North Korea Research Group

Monday, November 9, 2009
4:00 - 6:00 PM
108N - North House
Munk Centre for International Studies
1 Devonshire Place, Toronto

As part of its global cross-media project, Chosun Ilbo, one of South Korea's newspapers, presents 'On the Border', a shocking documentary about the current human rights crisis facing North Korean refugees.

Produced in full cooperation with a number of international broadcasters such as BBC and TBS (Japan), this eye-opening documentary is based on material gathered from a team of courageous journalists who starting in May 2007, spent ten months roaming though nine different countries including China, Russia, Thailand, Japan, England, and the US, to collect first-hand accounts of North Korean refugees and their ongoing struggles. In an unprecedented move, these reporters risked their own lives by disguising as North Korean refugees, then exposing themselves to life-threatening situations such as being smuggled into forbidden lands whereupon they came in contact with over 300 real-life North Korean refugees. In the process, they managed to unravel the shocking truth behind the rumored human trafficking in the China-North Korea border and the illegal drug trafficking involving military personnel.

Some of the highlights include accounts of trafficking of North Korean women refugees at the Tumen river on the China-North Korea border; the story of a female refugee sold off to a Chinese man as a surrogate mother; heartfelt testimonies from stateless refugee children; the risky airborne escape of one refugee with a forged Chinese passport; and a first-time look at Siberia's lumbering plant which houses many North Korean refugees. In the end, On the Border does not try to dissect the North Korean political system or debate the South Korean sunshine policy; instead the film simply brings to light the human rights issues affecting the lives of forgotten refugees who are in desperate need of a voice.

(Editorial Description by YesAsia.com)

Official Website: http://www.chosun.com/ontheborder/

This event is part of the North Korea Documentary Series sponsored by North Korea Research Group