One year after the Korean War, the conflict had reached a stalemate. The two opposing forces began to search for a way to end the grueling war of attrition, eventually settling on a modest village called ‘Pan Mun Jom’ near Gaeseong as the designated site for negotiations. Despite initial hopes for a quick resolution, the negotiating parties encountered obstacles that prevented an agreement. Disputes over the military demarcation line and the repatriation of prisoners of war thwarted their efforts. The film peels back the layers to reveal the untold story of Pan Mun Jom, shedding light on a history that has remained hidden until now.
Combining a humorous and affectionate family portrait, a historical film and a search for identity, Defectors confronts the impact of the Korean War on different generations. Through encounters with a North Korean defector, Hyun kyung Kim reflects on her separation from her loved ones — such as her whimsical mother, whom she left behind in Korea upon moving to the United States.
As the novel 『LimGeojeong』 becomes a great success, the publisher and the writer's bereaved family in North Korea meet to solve the copyright problem. Their exchanges between South and North Korea create another novel-like story that condenses issues in various fields including politics, economy, and culture together with concerns and hospitality.
Cheoljung, the chief chef of Okryugwan in North Korea, is separated from his younger brother in South Korea. One day, he was dispatched to make Pyongyang Naengmyeon, for the request of South Korea at the 2018 Inter-Korean Panmunjom Summit. At the same time, his younger brother is also attending as a South Korean entourage. Despite his old age, Cheoljung goes to the Panmunjom to make Pyongyang Naengmyeon which their mother used to cook for the family.
In 2000, in the era of inter-Korean reconciliation, 63 non-converted prisoners were repatriated to the North, and a 2nd repatriation movement was launched in 2001 but failed again and again in later years. As of 2022, the average age of the surviving secondary repatriation applicants is 91.
Military camp nearby the DMZ of a divided land, where the South is the land of freedom, and the opposite side is land of repression. Sergeant Kyu-nam, who has been planning an escape to the South for a long time, gets caught while stopping a common soldier, Dong-hyuk, from escaping. At risk of execution, State Security Department Major Hyun-sang recognizes Kyu-nam from childhood. Instead of accusing him, Hyun-sang decides to make Kyu-nam a hero, who caught a deserter. Hyun-sang, therefore, has succeeded in securing his performance records by saving Kyu-nam’s life. Nevertheless, Kyu-nam wants to live his life by his own will, not the government’s commands. He never gives up on crossing the border. On the other hand, Hyun-sang desperately stops Kyu-nam to protect his life which has been built by giving up his dream.
Sung-Min delivers food supplies to the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The Kaesong Industrial Complex is a joint inter-Korean economic project north of the DMZ. There, he sees North Korean employee Sook-Hee everyday and he is interested in her. One day, Sook-Hee shows interest in the song which Sung-Min is listening to.
Ryun-hee Kim, a North Korean housewife, was forced to come to South Korea and became its citizen against her will. As her seven years of struggle to go back to her family in North Korea continues, the political absurdity hinders her journey back to her loved ones. The life of her family in the North goes on in emptiness, and she fears that she might become someone, like a shadow, who exists only in the fading memory of her family.
One of the major works by South Korean feminist film collective Kaidu Club, this short is a dynamic, idiosyncratic, and mosaic-like portrait of Korean life, culture, and people who dream of a unified North and South.
Jeong-eun is embarrassed that her mother, who is suffering from dementia, wants to meet and call her sister from who was separated with due to the Korean War. However, Jeongeun accidentally receives a wrong call from a North Korean woman and is asked a favor.
Eunmi, a woman who underwent intense anti-communist education while she grew up in South Korea, lives a normal life in America. However, after going on a trip to North Korea with her husband, her life begins to change. During an open forum event in South Korea, where she was invited to speak, she suffers the unimaginable, and the more she tries to escape from the situation, the worse and worse it gets.
A group of women climbs a summer mountain situated in South Korea. They are refugees who have settled into South Korean society after fleeing from North Korea. For them, climbing the mountains has been an unavoidable journey for survival - a matter of life and death.
In 2003 Song Du-yul, a philosophy professor, decides to go back to his homeland after spending thirty-seven years in Germany. Within a week after crossing the border, his reputation falls from a respected global political figure to an infamous communist spy. During a five-year-long trial, he was arrested and held in custody. This throws Korean society into turmoil and brings a big conflict between the Conservative and the Progressive parties. The filmmaker calmly contemplates this long period of the incident in detail and depicts a society with an indifferent manner. The story builds through an accretion of whimsical facts and it sometimes brings up uncomfortable truths which will irritate viewers. This film is a camera inside of us that evokes what viewers may have tried to forget.
The spy Im Su-myung refuses to speak. Kang Sin-jung is the lawyer appointed for Su-myung's defense. Sin-jung's interest is peaked. Su-myung was the youngest son of a ruined landowner. When two of his brothers defect to North Korea, the police torment the remaining family. In order to find out the truth about communism, Su-myung goes to the North too, leaving behind his other brother to watch over their mother. In North Korea, the three brothers are persecuted for being members of the Communist Party in South Korea.
A North Korean soldier is severely wounded. He surrenders and is rescued by the South. The North Korean soldier surrendered to meet his father in the South. The soldier's last name is Han. He is 31 years old. His hometown is Heungnam. With those words, the soldier falls into unconsciousness. Meanwhile, the Heungnam Refugees Association sets out to find the father. They find three possible matches.
Interpreting an event of ROKS Cheonan corvette, torpedoed and sunken by North Korea, this documentary rebuilds the event with a different insight. No one can tell if the investigation of Cheonan has reached compelling conclusion. But the film tells and reveals how unreasonable Korean society is.
An archaeological site in China was selected to send two teams, North and South Koreans, and students to collaborate and continue reconciliation of the two countries. But the team leader of the South decided to dredge the leader of the North group.