Premiering tonight at 10 p.m. on THIRTEEN & THIRTEEN HD
In the past decade, up to 100,000 defectors have crossed the waters of the Tumen and Yalu Rivers into northeast China to escape the regime of North Korea, the world’s last closed Communist state. In Crossing Heaven’s Border, WIDE ANGLE tells the moving and dramatic stories of a few of them.
In China, the defectors’ fate is grim. They must live in hiding, working illegally and with no access to education or medical care. If caught by Chinese authorities, they are repatriated to North Korea, where they face severe punishment: persecution, prison camps, torture, even execution. Only a lucky few reach their ultimate goal: asylum in South Korea. Crossing Heaven’s Border reveals the plight of North Korean defectors from the point of view of intrepid South Korean journalists who risked their lives filming undercover for ten months to capture the haunting stories first-hand.
The reporters introduce us to a mother working in China as a tour guide to support her six-year-old son who is sick with cerebral palsy and in dire need of medical attention. And we follow the grueling 10-day journey of a teenage girl and a little boy smuggled overland across China and Laos into Thailand, which accepts North Korean defectors as asylum seekers.
WIDE ANGLE anchor Aaron Brown will interview Debra Liang-Fenton immediately following the broadcast. Liang-Fenton is a human rights expert with the United States Institute of Peace, and the former Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.
And on the WIDE ANGLE website, see rare footage shot inside North Korea as part of the vivid story of one woman's escape, watch a web-exclusive interview with Pastor Chun Ki Won, founder of Durihana, the Christian missionary organization that orchestrated the journey of the North Korean refugees featured in Crossing Heaven's Border, check out the interactive map where you can click on points to follow a route traveled by refugees in the film, and learn about each country's policy towards North Korean defectors, and watch Refugee Journeys, stories of people making epic journeys all over the globe to start anew.
If you are a refugee, we want to hear the story of your journey. Tell your story in the comments section below or email WideAngle@thirteen.org to learn how to contribute a video.
Photo credit: Chosunilbo
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