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Seoul Train

Seoul Train

(Seoul Train), Jim Butterworth, Aaron Lubarsky, Lisa Sleeth / USA, 2004
54 min

No other country currently violates the human rights of its citizens to such an extent as does North Korea. This is why each month large numbers of North Koreans try to escape across the border to neighboring China. Many of them are forced into this decision by the wide famine, which according to estimates has taken the lives of over three million victims. Not all however are lucky enough to successfully arrive in China, and those that succeed must be extremely careful. In cases where the Chinese authorities catch a North Korean refugee on their territory, they are sent back home. In contradiction with international agreements they refuse to grant them the status of refugees, but treat them as illegal immigrants. The Underground Railroad Organization, formed by volunteers who are not indifferent to the fate of these individuals, try to help them get out of China and on to other countries. One of the leaders of this secret organization is Chun Ki-won, nicknamed the Asian Schindler, who was captured along with twelve other refugees while crossing the Chinese-Mongolian border. After pressure from various organizations, several American senators and the public, they were released after seven months in a Chinese prison. Each month however the Chinese authorities still return to North Korea hundreds of refugees, whose further fate can only be speculated about. This precisely filmed, extremely relevant and very humane film contains a number of dramatic scenes, in which the audience breathlessly watches the desperate attempts of the citizens of North Korea as they try to get out of their country, which can without exaggeration be characterized as one of the largest prison camps in the world.