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It has been a difficult road for producer Chung Seong-san, himself a North Korean defector, that saw him reportedly exposed to death threats and official pressure. “Yoduk Story” centers on Kang Yeon-hwa, the daughter of a party official and a promising dancer. When her father is falsely accused of being a South Korean spy, she and her family are detained in the notorious Yoduk concentration camp, where she is raped and becomes pregnant.
The audience audibly drew breath when the prisoners describe their camp experiences -- which the producer says are based on true stories. Characters include a woman who is interned because she failed to take good care of a portrait of Kim Il-sung, and a South Korean prisoner of war who has his tongue cut out.
The director says he cut many more horrific scenes.
After news of the impending production spread last year, the theatre that had booked it pulled out, as did investors who had promised W300 million (US$300,000). There was persistent official pressure, Chung says, but a story about his efforts in the Chosun Ilbo motivated many private citizens at home and abroad to offer financial help. Among them was the head of the activist group Defense Forum Foundation, Suzanne Scholte, who contributed US$2,000.
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CNN, BBC and Reuters as well as Japan’s Sankei and Mainichi Shimbun were present at the premiere. A UPI reporter said the musical was an artistic interpretation but sent an important message about human rights abuses in the North. He declared himself “deeply interested” in the musical.
“It seems the Japanese media are more interested in the show than the Korean media,” a reporter with the Mainichi Shimbun said. “More and more Japanese people are becoming interested in North Korean human rights issues because of the renewed attention Japanese people abducted by North Korea are receiving.”
