Songhwan . Repatriation
Duration: 02:29:00 In the spring of 1992, the South Korean film director became acquainted with two elderly North Korean men after their release from prison. Sent to South Korea as spies, they were arrested and spent over thirty years in prison, serving out their sentences without renouncing their c...
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| Institution: | Open Society Archives at Central European University |
| Language: | Korean |
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Dong-won, Kim
2003
South Korea |
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10891/osa:54d7b5d3-0a9f-492a-9f5a-267053b16f02 |
| Summary: | Duration: 02:29:00
In the spring of 1992, the South Korean film director became acquainted with two elderly North Korean men after their release from prison. Sent to South Korea as spies, they were arrested and spent over thirty years in prison, serving out their sentences without renouncing their communist beliefs. By the end of the 1990s, relations between North and South Korea had improved somewhat, and even the most hardened unconverted cases were released. The director's friendship with the released inmates allowed him to film them for more than a decade. Starting with questions on the dehumanizing conversion process, the filming evolved into a record of the diverse reactions towards the ex-spies now living in South Korean society. In 2000, sixty-three former ‘unconverted’ prisoners were finally repatriated to the North. When the filmmaker tried to follow them to Pyongyang he was refused an entrance visa and his communication with this group virtually stopped. This self-questioning reflection on the possibility of understanding the experiences and standpoints of others leaves the viewer with a disturbing question to ponder: can hope for peace and coexistence overcome ideological differences? |
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| Published: | 2003 |