Lee Sul plays a North Korean defector in ‘A Tour Guide.’
More than 30,000 North Korean defectors arrived in South Korea during the last few decades. Since 2012, only 30 have returned. For many defectors it’s difficult to adjust. For a few it might be impossible.
In the film Tour of Duty, North Korean defector Han-young works as a tour guide. Her command of Chinese, which she learned as a refugee in China, helps her get the job. It’s ironic that her job involves showing tourists the landmarks of a country that does not yet feel like home. Han-young, played by Lee Sul, becomes separated from her defector brother, whose South Korean dreams have not materialized. With few friends, she wonders if her life has really improved. Han-young is a fictional character, but she’s inspired by real-life experiences. It was curiosity about the lives of North Korean defectors that inspired filmmaker Kwak Eun-mi to create Tour of Duty.
“Since Korea is still divided, inter-Korean issues have always been of my interest,” said Kwak. “However, since I was neither a North Korean defector nor had any North Korean defector friends around me, I was cautious and couldn’t easily make it as a film. Then one day, right in front of the subway station where I was standing, I saw two young women in dresses that were out of season and they were enjoying themselves by taking selfies with their cell phones, talking in Korean with an unfamiliar accent. I assumed they were Chinese nationals or North Korean defectors, who spoke Hamgyeong-do dialect, and found them very impressive. I wanted to make a story about them thinking that North Korean defectors cannot be easily recognized in our daily life, but we live together all the time.”
Before making A Tour Guide, which screened at the New York Asian Film Festival, Kwak made Beneath the Wheel, her graduation thesis film, which won an audience award at the Women’s Human Rights Film Festival. For her short film, Short Film with A Hand-Written Poster, she won the Sonjae Award at the Busan International Film Festival and a Blue Dragon Film Award. Tour of Duty is her first feature-length film.
Kwak Eun-mi’s first feature film is ‘A Tour Guide.’
“After filming the last episode of the local shoot, I came back to the motel inn, closed the door, stood alone, and I realized, ‘This is what a feature film is like.’ I had to do almost everything by myself because of budget issues when making short films. But the feature film was different in that I had to work with many staff and communicate about what I wanted to make until it was created as a single work. The fact that this communication determines the details of the long length films and the level of completion by injecting the power and the tension of the film was completely different from making short films. It took almost a year and a half to two years to work on the feature film, so I thought all the feature films that were born in the world were very much precious.”
Kwak wrote the first draft of the screenplay, researching the experience of North Korean defectors through news articles and YouTube.
“Later, I met a female North Korean defector in her early 30s, who has been defecting for 10 years, and another female North Korean defector in her 20s, who advised the North Korean language of my film,” said Kwak. “I was also able to talk with a North Korean defector during the audition. They all have different reactions and thoughts, depending on when they defected from North Korea, what the generation was, and individual tendencies, but the common feeling was that they wanted to live well here somehow.”
Defectors receive short term help from the South Korean government, but it may not always be adequate to address the longterm problems some defectors face.
“If you defect from North Korea, you will receive three months of education to adapt to society at a place called Hanawon,” said Kwak. “You can also choose to apply for various certificate training, such as driving practice, nursing care workers, and Chinese tourist interpreters who appear as Han-young’s job in the film. Even if you leave Hanawon, you can apply for a vocational education. But there’s not many places that support their settlement fund and housing costs, so it can be difficult for them to find a job and earn money for a living by themselves in the long term.”
In the film the Han-young has a “watcher,” someone who helps her adjust to South Korean society and mediates problems. High-ranking defectors may be managed by Korea’s National Intelligence Service, but most defectors are helped by such mediators, visiting with local police officers once a month. However, one police officer may manage from 30 to 50 North Korean defectors at the same time, said Kwak, which may not be enough to resolve serious problems.
Han-young asks her watcher to help her find her brother. With her brother gone and her only friend moving away, her loneliness is overwhelming. The film’s ending may leave viewers to wonder if she represents one of the 30 who returned in the last decade or one of the 9,970 defectors who eventually made a life in the south
“In the draft, I ended the scenario as characters re-entering to North Korea,” said Kwak. “But I thought it was irresponsible, although it might be intense as a story. The reason for making this film was cheering the defectors who want to live or leave here, and even encouraging strangers to live well anywhere. Therefore I thought it would be enough for the main character to just disappear with an anxious face without a smile as if she arrived at a new place.”
Kwak has always treasured films. They seemed like a friend while she was growing up.
“In Korea, on weekends, we can watch various and good foreign films in public broadcast with dubbed voices,” said Kwak. “It was a very important weekend routine for me. I especially liked Bette Midler’s comedy and I still can’t forget the shock of watching My Life as a Dog directed by Lasse Hallström. I enjoyed watching Hollywood movies such as E.T., Terminator, Omen, and Nightmare when I was in elementary school.”
The director didn’t major in film at university, but after working as a scriptwriter and production manager, decided to study the subject at Korean Academy of Film Arts.
“For me, who started to make films as a movie enthusiast, the constant keywords for making short and long films are ‘women’ and ‘society.’ In the next feature film, I want to make it more cinematic and more enjoyable for the audience. I don’t know how these two keywords will blend with any specific topic in the future, but my dream is to continue filming like this and to make a film that can be a friend from childhood to adolescence.”
The film aired at the 2023 New York Asian Film Festival.