Film to shed light on North Korean POWs
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Cho Kyeong-duk
By Yi Whan-woo
Political unrest between North and South Korea is hindering the work of filmmaker Cho Kyeong-duk. Currently filming his latest documentary “Return Home,” Cho set out to tell the story of the North Korean prisoners of war (POWs) who chose to live in neutral countries such as Argentina, Brazil and India after the 1950-53 Korean War.
He decided to make the movie because he was curious about what made them desert their home country.
The film is a retrospection of some 20 remaining former North Korean POWs, but Cho is unable to finish the movie because of the worsening inter-Korean relations.
“One of the survivors, Kim Myeong-bok, 79, who is now a Brazilian citizen, wants to visit his hometown in North Korea. This visit was meant to be an important part of my film,” Cho said during a telephone interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.
“However, my crew and I still have not been permitted to travel to the communist regime and put the finishing touches on the movie. This is really disappointing.”
Kim has also been denied entry by North Korea.
Cho, 41, says he may rewrite the script and give up his plans to film in North Korea.
“However, I really want to visit North Korea. I want to show the world that the North Korean POWs are not forgotten in history,” he said.
Cho said he first met with former North Korean POWs in Brazil in 2009 when he was there to attend a film festival.
A Seoul native, Cho became greatly interested in their stories, although none of his relatives were from North Korea.
He and his crew traveled around the world at their own expense to interview the survivors until August 2014. He was then able to get a subsidy of 150 million won ($125,000) from the local government of Geoje City, where a prisoner camp was located, on condition that the city government has copyrights for the film.
Kim has been staying in South Korea since late July to shoot the film with Cho, and was preparing for his trip to North Korea. It is Kim’s first visit to the peninsula since the end of the Korean War.
According to Cho, Kim is the only survivor who has expressed hope to visit North Korea while the others were fearful of being dubbed traitors if they went back.
“This tells me the emotional scars of the Korean War still remain and I hope my film can contribute to heal such wounds. I can’t guarantee when the film will be completed though,” Cho said.