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Korean director takes on decades of generational trauma
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The trauma: Yang Yonghi was only six years old when she watched her eldest brother left Japan for North Korea as one of 200 “human gifts” for leader Kim Il Sung’s 60th birthday. (AFP/Anthony Wallace)
S
eparated from her family, filmmaker Yang Yonghi depicts harrowing life experiences through documentaries and an upcoming theatrical project
Award-winning filmmaker Yang Yonghi was just 6 years old when she watched her eldest brother leave Japan for North Korea as one of 200 "human gifts" for leader Kim Il-sung's 60th birthday.
As a North Korean anthem blared, through bursts of confetti, he handed her a note before his ferry departed Niigata Port: "Yonghi, listen to a lot of music. Watch as many movies as you want."
It was 1972, a year after her parents — members of the ethnic Korean "Zainichi" community in Japan — had sent their other two sons the same way, lured by the Kim regime's promise of a socialist paradise with free education, health care and jobs for all.
The boys never moved back.
"My parents dedicated their entire lives to an entity that came up with such a senseless project and forced them to sacrifice their own children for it," Yang, now 57, told AFP.
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