LEE
C R O S S I N G
H E A V E N ’ S
and documentarian
L E E has served as a
nt in Afghanistan and
news outlets. He is
estigative reporter with
Crossmedia Team, which
ee has received an array
his work, including being
to be nominated three
my award and winning
ph Award at the MonteFestival.
CROSSING
H E AV E N ’ S B O R D E R
UTHOR
B
O
R
D
E
R
Hark Joon Lee
RODUCTION BY
MARTIN
Walter H. Shorenstein
Asia-Pacific Research Center
now available from the shorenstein asia-pacific research center
South Korea journalist and filmmaker Hark Joon Lee’s firsthand account of the challenges
that would-be North Korean defectors face in their homeland; in China, as illegal
immigrants seeking new lives and a route to asylum; and in South Korea, as these new
citizens attempt to navigate a new and unfamiliar reality.
With more than one hundred color and black-and-white photos.
Media contact: Lisa Griswold | lisagris@stanford.edu | (650) 736-0656
Synopsis
Crossing Heaven’s Border is South Korean filmmaker and
journalist Hark Joon Lee’s firsthand account of his four
years covering the incredible struggles of North Korean
defectors. Already available in Chinese and Japanese, this
is its first translation into a Western language.
Lee plunged into the project in 2007 as a budding reporter for the South Korean daily the Chosun Ilbo. As such,
Crossing is also the story of his own growth as a journalist
and documentarian, and, ultimately, of the emotional toll
of his coverage.
While they may be familiar with the seemingly erratic,
even bizarre behavior of North Korea’s regime, and with
the misery and isolation of the country’s citizens, American readers will likely be surprised and shocked by many
of Lee’s accounts:
A slave trader leads a North Korean woman across the
Tumen River to China. © Chosun Ilbo
• North Korean-manufactured methamphetimines are
routinely smuggled across the border into China, with
the help of a corrupt North Korean military.
• Lee goes on an unusual Chinese “safari,” and the exotic species viewed is the North Koreans themselves.
• North Korean women are sold into forced marriages
with rural Chinese men in order to pay off grain debts
and feed their families in North Korea.
• In Siberia, North Korean loggers lead a shadowy existence, paid in now-worthless scrip, separated from
their families and trapped in dangerous jobs.
While narrating the voyages of defectors along perilous
land and sea routes from China to South Korea, Lee introduces readers to the tangled role of South Korean missionaries who lead and even fund defectors, often in defiance
of local laws.
Defectors transfer to another boat amid rough seas.
© Chosun Ilbo
Perhaps most pitiful in Lee’s account is the plight of defectors’ children born into a stateless limbo in China. As illegal immigrants, they have no access to education or health
care in China; as undocumented aliens, they are rejected
by a wary South Korea because they lack proof of North
Korean citizenship; and as “children of traitors,” they have
no route back to North Korea.
Ironically, after their courageous struggles to seek better
lives in South Korea, many defectors find themselves unable to adjust to an unfamiliar society that views them
with prejudice.
Captured by hidden camera, North Koreans trade drugs for
hard currency and goods like motorbikes. © Chosun Ilbo
Media contact: Lisa Griswold | lisagris@stanford.edu | (650) 736-0656
About the Documentary
Reporter and filmmaker Hark Joon Lee’s work on the
plight of North Korean defectors began in 2007 for
the South Korean newspaper the Chosun Ilbo. Crossing Heaven’s Border is the first film in a series that also
includes Across Land Across Sea and Phantoms of the
Border. Crossing debuted on American television on
the PBS program “Wide Angle” in 2009.
Crossing Heaven’s Border has received numerous
international awards and was the first Korean-made
documentary nominated for an Emmy. It can be
viewed on the PBS website at http://video.pbs.org/
video/1171612608/. The multimedia project behind
the documentary,“On the Border,” can be accessed at
the Chosun Ilbo website at http://english.chosun.com/
ontheborder/.
Author Hark Joon Lee aboard a boat awaiting a rendezvous
with defectors from North Korea. © Chosun Ilbo
“. . .the horror of what people face back in North Korea gives
Crossing the kind of suspense Hollywood cannot manufacture.”
From a Wall Street Journal review of the Crossing Heaven’s Border documentary
North Korean defectors travelling by minibus find
themselves stricken with motion sickness, many never
having never been in a motor vehicle. © Chosun Ilbo
Hidden camera footage of North Korean defectors making their
way on foot through the jungles of Laos, part of the 10,000 km
journey to a bid for asylum in Vietnam. © Chosun Ilbo
“. . .while defectors and refugees are important individually as
displaced human beings, as a whole they are also responsible for what
is becoming an information revolution in North Korea.”
From the introduction by Bradley K. Martin, author of Under the Loving Care of the
Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty
Media contact: Lisa Griswold | lisagris@stanford.edu | (650) 736-0656
Crossing Heaven’s Border
By Hark Joon Lee
From 2007 to 2011 South Korean filmmaker and newspaper reporter Hark Joon Lee lived among
North Korean defectors in China, filming an award-winning documentary on their struggles.
Crossing Heaven’s Border is the firsthand
account of his experiences there, where he
witnessed human trafficking, the smuggling of illicit drugs by North Korean solC R O S S I N G
diers, and a rare successful escape from
North Korea by sea.
x
LEE
FROM
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
TO
the border with North Korea, where
he now heads. Lee has received an array
CROSSING
H E AV E N ’ S B O R D E R
As Lee traces the often tragic lives of North
Korean defectors who were willing to risk
everything for their hopes, he journeys to
Siberia in pursuit of hidden North Korean
lumber mills; to Vietnam, where defectors
2007
2011 filmmaker and
make desperate
charges into foreign emSouth Korean newspaper reporter Hark
Author, reporter, and documentarian
Joon Lee lived among North Korean
H A R K J O O N L E E has served as a
bassies; and war
along
the 10,000-kilometer
defectors in China filming an awardcorrespondent in Afghanistan and
winning documentary
on
their
struggles.
managed
online
news outlets.
He is
escape route for defectors
stretching
from
Crossing Heaven’s Border is the firsthand
currently an investigative reporter with
account of his experiences
near
Chinain China
to Laos
and
the
Chosunto
Ilbo Thailand.
Crossmedia Team, which
of accolades for his work, including being
About the Author
the smuggling of illicit drugs by North
the first Korean to be nominated three
Korean soldiers, and a rare successful
times for an Emmy award and winning
Author,
reporter,
and documentarian Hark
escape from North Korea by sea.
the Golden Nymph Award at the MonteCarlo
Television
Festival.
Joon Lee has served as
a war corresponAs Lee traces the often-tragic lives of
North Korean defectors
dentwhoinare willing
Afghanistan and managed online
to risk everything for their hopes, he
news
outlets.
He is currently an investigajourneys to Siberia
in pursuit
of hidden
North Korean lumber mills; to Vietnam,
tive
reporter
with
the Chosun Ilbo Crosswhere defectors make desperate charges
into foreign embassies; and along the
media Team, which he now heads. Lee has
10,000-kilometer escape route for
defectors stretching from China to Laos
received an array of accolades for his work,
and to Thailand.
including being the first Korean to be nominated three times for an Emmy award and
winning the Golden Nymph award at the
Monte-Carlo Television Festival.
he was witness to human trafficking,
H E A V E N ’ S
B
O
R
D
E
R
Hark Joon Lee
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
BRADLEY K. MARTIN
Walter H. Shorenstein
Asia-Pacific Research Center
With more than one hundred full color and black-and-white photographs and and introduction by
Bradley K. Martin, author of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader.
Published by Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center and distributed by Brookings Institution Press
800-537-5487 • FAX 410-516-6998 • www.brookings.edu/press.aspx
ISBN 978-1-931368-36-0 • Trade • 6 x 9 • 352 pages • $18.95
Media contact: Lisa Griswold | lisagris@stanford.edu | (650) 736-0656