Korea - Out of the North 2008 12 27 (BBC News Our World)

In a newly updated version of this awarding-winning film, Olenka Frenkiel reports on the plight of North Korean refugees as they seek to escape the communist regime for the chance of a better life elsewhere.

Every year, unseen by the rest of the world, thousands of refugees cross the freezing waters of the Tumen River into China hoping to escape the repressive regime in North Korea. But what is the fate of those who cross into China?

Some are sold into the sex industry. Some may marry but they must live in hiding from the authorities. Their children too live as ghosts. Without official papers they are unable to access education or medical care.

For the first time a South Korean camera crew takes up the cause of their North Korean countrymen and documents their remarkable stories. Chosun Ilbo cameraman staked out on North Korea China border. The trafficked women, their stateless, sometimes orphaned children.

For eight months camera teams from the Chosun Ilbo newspaper watched, filmed and followed the men women and children on their perilous road to safety and offered their material for scrutiny and broadcast to the BBC.

http://www.bbcworldnews.com/Pages/ProgrammeFeature.aspx?id=43&FeatureID=771