Free screening of North Korean film 48M - Tuesday 9 December, Shoreditch

To mark North Korean freedom week 2014, and a day ahead of international human rights day (10 December), Amnesty will be hosting a screening of acclaimed film ’48 M’. 48 metres is the distance of the Yalu river which marks the border between China and North Korea. To people attempting to flee, it marks the difference between life and death.

As part of Amnesty’s ‘Send no one back to North Korea’ campaign, the screening will be followed by a Q and A with the director and three North Koreans who have escaped. The brief discussion will explore the dangers people risk to try and get to China, as well as the almost certain death and punishment they face if forcibly repatriated to North Korea from China.

The film’s director, Min Baek-doo will take part in the Q and A after the screening as will three North Korean defectors:

Joo Il Kim, a former North Korean army captain, who himself fled across the Chinese border in 2005. He will talk about the suffering and starvation that he witnessed in the country while travelling with the army. That suffering prompted him to defect. He will also talk about the plight of North Koreans who are not recognised as refugees by China and so are returned to North Korea where they face harsh reprisals and likely internment in North Korea’s notoriously brutal prison camps.

50-year-old Choi Joong Hwa who returned home after serving in the army as a driver for 11 years to find out his two brothers had starved to death. He left North Korea for China to secure food for his nephews and nieces.

66-year-old Kang Ji Young, who describes herself as an ‘ordinary working class’ North Korean. She was repatriated twice.

What: UK premiere of acclaimed film ‘48M’

Where:  The Human Rights Action Centre

17 - 25 New Inn Yard

London

EC2A 3EA

When: Tuesday 9 December 2014, 6.30pm

Who: Hosted by the International North Korean's Association for Human Rights and Democracy

Price: Free -  Book a place here