South Korean
Korea: Out of the North
Shot in North Korea, China, Laos, Thailand & South Korea, August 2007-February 2008
Commissioned by Chosun Ilbo newspaper, South Korea
Broadcast by BBC Television

WINNERS: Sony Professional Impact Award

This winning film follows the stories of just some of the thousands of refugees who, normally unseen by the rest of the world, cross the Tumen River into China hoping to escape the repressive regime in North Korea. Chung In Taek and Han Yong Ho risked imprisonment to spend ten months filming undercover.

On the Chinese side of the border they filmed half-naked people - carrying their clothes to keep them dry - crossing the freezing river at night. And they followed the long and difficult journeys of some of those who made it to freedom and some of those who did not.

The judges said the dedication of the two cameramen had produced "a stunning piece of television. The footage is outstanding, rare and important and it tells a complete and very moving story."


Biography
Chung In Taek is 45 and has been working in television for over twenty years. He has been a reporter, presenter, director and cameraman. He has spent much of his career working in sports. He made a documentary on the lives of Korean minor league baseball players and in 2006 he was a planning co-ordinator for the World Cup. He is married with two children.

Han Yong Ho is 26. He began his career at iTV (Incheon TV in South Korea) working in documentaries. He was a correspondent for the Kukmin Daily newspaper before working on a major cross-media project – ‘Our Asia’ - for the newspaper Chosun Ilbo.