BBC, CNN, Reuters and representatives from a whole range of South Korean Medias were present at the prer-premier of “Yoduk Story” on March 15th in Seoul.
“It is probably the least cheerful musical since Les Miserables – a three-hour song and dance extravaganza set in one of North Korea´s notorious labour camps”, says BBC journalist, Charles Scanlon, in ar aticle on March 24, 2006. Jan Ramstad and Therese Jebsen from the Rafto Human Rights House, was amazed and impressed by the performance set up by North Korean defector and director, Jung Sung-San. (28-MAR-2006)
The musical has become part of a life-long mission for Jung Sung-san to give a voice to the victims of the North Korean terror regime. Jung claims that the show is not about political ideology but about human rights. He managed to escape from North Korea in 1994, after being caught listening to South Korean radio.
Film documentary
Staging a theatre play about the horrors of the prison camps, was the idea of the prominent Polish film director, Andrzej Fidyk. He is engaged by the Rafto House and Piraya Film to direct documentaries about human righs violations in North Korea and Belarus. Imporant elements in the film about the sufferings of North Koreans, are the challenges of staging “The Yoduk Story”, which has not been an easy task. Mr Jung says he has received warnings himself from South Korean government officials, as well as anonymous telephone threats.
South Korea: engagement, not confrontation
South Korea is seeking to promote reconciliation with the North and is uneasy about such explicit criticism of the communist regime. The government has abstained in recent years from UN votes condemning the North´s record. Privately, South Korean officials says that the North is holding some 200,000 political prisoners – but they argue that engagement rather than direct confrontation is the best way to bring about change.
Cruelty and forgiveness
Yoduk Story is the harrowing story of a celebrated state actress, who is sent to the camp with the rest of her family after her father is arrested as a spy. This is common practice in the North, where families down to the third generation are held accountable for the crimes of relatives. Almost the entire musical is set at the Yoduk camp, which is portrayed as a nightmare world of public executions, rape and starvation. But the musical is not only about cruelty; the heroine is raped by the camp commander and bears him a child – but later survives to forgive him.
