With the Laura Ling and Euna Lee situation along with nuke testing, North Korea is getting scrutinized more than ever. In Crossing Heaven’s Border, WIDE ANGLE tells the moving and dramatic stories of North Korean defectors. 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, torture, even execution in prison camps. 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. (Similar to Burma VJ) 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.

Crossing Heaven’s Border on PBS

Clip from Crossing Heaven’s Border