Oscar nomination campaign to be launched for film depicting N. Korean defectors

SEOUL, Nov. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is to launch a campaign to appeal to
members of the committee for the Academy Awards to consider a local film
depicting North Korea defectors for this year's Oscar slate, officials said
Monday.
Government-funded agency (South) Korean Film Council has submitted "The
Crossing," a film on the harsh reality of North Korean defectors for next year's
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
The story, inspired by the dramatic 2001 entry of North Korean defector Jang
Gil-su and his six relatives into the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees office in Beijing, portrays the dramatic escape of a father and his son
into China and out of hunger-stricken North Korea.
An increasing number of North Koreans are fleeing their impoverished country for
Vietnam, Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries via China, mostly on their
way to South Korea.
The Korean Film Council is to hold a fundraiser on Friday in Los Angeles to raise
money for the publicity campaign of the film.
The film sold over 900,000 box office tickets locally after its release in South
Korea on June 26.
About 12,000 North Koreans have arrived in South Korea since the three-year
Korean War ended in 1953. China, however, has an agreement with its communist
ally North Korea to repatriate those Beijing considers economic migrants, a
policy strongly criticized by human rights groups. Critics say those repatriated
back to North Korea face harsh punishment, including prison, forced labor and
execution.
The U.S. has accepted more than 80 North Korean defectors under the North Korean
Human Rights Act, enacted in 2004 to help such defectors settle in the U.S. or in
other Western countries.
ygkim@yna.co.kr
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