hankyoreh

a North Korean defector

By Lim Jong-uhp, Senior Staff Writer　

The film “Ryanggang Children” slated for release next month was directed by Jung Sung-san, a North Korean defector, and Kim Seong-hun. Jung handled the script and acting and direction, while Kim handled the music and editing. Jung had a major role, since the film’s main characters are North Korean children.

Jung, who studied film direction at Pyongyang University of Dramatic and Cinematic Arts and Moscow State University, defected from North Korea in 1995 and graduated from Dongguk University’s drama and film department. He did the adaptations for the films “Swiri” and “JSA” and directed the musical “Yodok Story.” With this film, he has realized his dream of directing a film, 16 years after defecting from North Korea.

“Ryanggang Children” is the story of what takes place when a Christmas gift package sent by balloon from South Korea lands in a remote village in North Korea. At a rural public school, all the students go on a field trip to Pyongyang, except for Jong-su, who is deemed unfit to enter the North Korean capital. He cries after running after the bus, and on his way back, he picks up the gift package. In it is a melody card, a Santa outfit and a toy robot. His classmates gather at Jong-su’s home with steamed corn, crispy rice, eggs and fermented soybeans just to see the package. The authority focused on the class president shifts to Jong-su. At this point, the class president’s father, a member of the security forces, intervenes. The rumor is that the robot comes from South Korea.

“The political content? Well, a guy who was an actor in North Korea would put something into it? If I had to, I would say the story is one of children doing better than the adults. I would be thankful if the audience just feels, ‘Ah, we are happy.’”

There are mechanisms hidden throughout the film, however, that allow the audience to view the actual situation in North Korea. It shows the markets that appeared after North Korea’s distribution system broke down, the urchins subsisting on begging and theft, and the discrimination and gaps between Pyongyang and the provinces. Only traces remain of a Pleasure Troupe dancer who went mad after she was kicked out, a South Korean prisoner of war sent to a remote area, and a schoolteacher who died during North Korea’s great famine of the 1990s.

Producer Kim Dong-hyeon (Cinema Sam) said, “We took the 120 minute long first edit and cut it down to 95 minutes, and through post-production, took what would have been a heavy and dark film and made it a light and moving one focused on the children.”

Jung’s graduating class, the class of 1994, was deployed to the army to prevent ideological unrest following the death of North Korean leader Kim Il-sung. In July of the following year, he was sent to a labor camp in Sariwon after he was caught listening to a South Korean broadcast. He escaped in September when the transport truck taking him to undergo trial in Kaesong overturned. His family in Pyongyang was exiled to Hyesan, near the Chinese border: when Jung went to find them, he found himself chased by garrison troops and fled across the border. As news spread of his cultural activities in South Korea, his father died in a prison camp in 2003, his mother and elder brother went missing, and his two cousins died of measles after they were caught fleeing to China. The controversial Yodok Story, which dealt with human rights in a political prison camp, was directly related to his family’s story.

“I do not really want to tell this story... It is distressing that when you talk about North Korean human rights, it is always seen as political,” Jung said, adding, “although, it is the mission of defector culture figures such as myself to produce cultural content that both the left and the right can enjoy.”

Was it difficult to work with child actors?

Jung said it was hard to find undersized children. Through a 50 to one competition, they just managed to find 35. These 35 came down to the film set in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province half a month before shooting for training. They tanned skin catching crayfish and roasting corn and potatoes, and learned North Korean accents.

“While production costs were an issue, a bigger issue limiting the time we could shoot was that the actors were growing quickly: if you compare the beginning and end of the film, the children look different,” Jung said. “My film may be the only one in which children grow on screen. Those children became university and high school students.”

Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]