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| Two Korean War orphans pose with a Hungarian boy in this 1953 file photo. / Courtesy of Kim Deog-young |
'Kim Il-sung's Children' to hit local theaters on June 25, the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Director Kim Deog-young's "Kim Il-sung's Children" is a tale of the doomed fate of thousands of Korean War orphans who found homes in Europe and lived there for several years only to have their "fond" childhood abruptly ended with their forced repatriation to North Korea in 1959.
Since their separation, these North Koreans and their European friends missed one another, longing in vain to see each other again. Their hopes, however, never came to pass.
The then North Korean leader Kim Il-sung turned a deaf ear to the Europeans' repeated pleas to allow reunions.
This sad but informative movie shows how individuals' lives were shattered by the turbulence of Korea's modern history caused by the clash of democracy and communism.
In 1952 winter, hundreds of Korean children arrived at a railway station in Bulgaria on board a train. The children from the war-torn country received a warm welcome from the Bulgarian crowds who gathered near the station.
The children were the first batch of war orphans who were sent to Bulgaria, one of five European countries which fed, taught and provided shelter to Korean War orphans. The four other countries were Poland, the then Czechoslovakia, Romania and Hungary.
Six decades after their separation, Lilka Anatasova, a Bulgarian who befriended the Korean children, sends a tearful message to two friends_ Jun Nak-won and Park In-sook.
Calling them by their names, Anatosova says she has missed them since they suddenly left Bulgaria for North Korea.
"I hope you are well and have lived happy lives since you left Bulgaria," Anatosova, now a grandmother, expressed to her estranged Korean friends.
She recalls the Korean children were pure and innocent. "They were sweet, too," she says in a scene of the movie.
"Kim Il-sung's Children" will hit local theaters on June 25, the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War (1950-53), amid a flood of blockbuster commercial films gearing up to attract audiences.
The budget film is a historically valuable piece. It tells several "exclusive stories" about Korea's modern history.
Director Kim found Kim Il-sung's motives behind his order to have all the children returned to North Korea immediately in 1959.
Based on his thorough and extensive research and interviews with European experts and old documents, Kim concludes the North Korean leader feared that his leadership base could be undermined as a result of the Hungarian revolt. In October, 1956, thousands of Hungarians took to the street calling for political freedom and a democratic political system. Back then, Hungary was under the control of the Soviet Union. The Hungarian uprising was brutally suppressed by Hungarian and Soviet forces the next month, leaving it a failed democracy movement.
For the North Korean leader Kim, the worst-case scenario was that the children who were teenagers at that time would be inspired by the pro-democracy movement and become rebels to threaten his dictatorial rule.
Kim's fact-based analysis distinguishes his film from Choo Sang-mi's 2018 documentary "The Children Gone to Poland" which traces the lives of Korean War orphans. Regarding the repatriation of the children, director Choo speculates that back then North Korea had a labor shortage in its post-war reconstruction and the children were brought back to North Korea to fill this need.
"Kim Il-sung's Children" gives the full picture of the then North Korean leader's intentions with a more convincing explanation.
For director Kim, it's a life-changing movie ― the documentary is his directorial debut and it has been invited to more than 10 international film festivals.
Such a feat, however, didn't happen overnight.
"Kim Il-sung's Children" is the result of his tenacious 15-year pursuit of the Korean War orphans, their whereabouts since he was first informed of their presence in Europe through a Romanian lady who married a North Korean teacher who took the children to Romania. Director Kim invested all his money to make the film which required him to embark on fact-finding trips to the five European countries.
U.S. Ambassador Harry Harris praised Kim for his dedication and perseverance to make the "remarkable accomplishment."
"Your efforts have shed light on, and given voices to, the hidden histories of thousands of orphaned children from the Korean War, for audiences around the world," he wrote in a letter to the filmmaker June 5. "As we remember the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, I believe that these stories will prove very special to those still suffering from the tragedies of the war and very educational to future generations. I hope your film will provide audiences all over the world with an opportunity to reflect upon both the past and the future of the Korean peninsula."
The artistry of the film helps director Kim pull off this masterpiece. The film begins in the scenic Bohemian Forest in which trees were covered with snow, near the Polish-German border. The film's soundtrack "In My Hometown" composed by Hong Nan-pa (1897-1941) played by the traditional musical instrument, haegum, strikes a chord with Koreans. The children's song speaks of homesickness.
Along with the decades-old black and white footage he found in local film archives, Kim uses the appealing soundtrack as a device to effectively deliver his message ― the Korean children had two homes, one in their birthplace in Korea and the other in Europe.
They missed their second home so much during their lives but couldn't return.
Their letters sent to their European teachers and friends revealed their rocky lives in North Korea through restless hard labor and starvation. The film implies their tough lives intensified their missing of their second home in Europe, a place they were never allowed to visit again.
Kim's tracing of the war orphans and their whereabouts ends in 1961 when their posted mail from North Korea abruptly ended.
"Kim Il-sung's Children" talks about the Korean War and its fallout on these children seven decades ago. But it still relates to many Koreans today. Some of the war orphans would be alive in North Korea. Their happiest moments in their lives were cut short but they would have treasured those memories all their lives and this could have helped them endure their harsh existence in North Korea.
