North Korea
What insights did we learn from the USA-North Korean Nuclear Summit?
On Monday 11th June, the Frontline Club hosted a summit of its own in anticipation of the meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un in Singapore to discuss the matter of denuclearisation. As word breaks on Tuesday 12th June 2018, the two leaders have announced to the world a commitment to these aims. In many […]
Unreported World Preview: North Korea’s Reality TV Stars + Panel Discussion
Correspondent Seyi Rhodes and Director Kate Hardie-Buckley report from the set of the hit South Korean TV show that’s made defectors from North Korea into TV stars. More than 400 defectors have been interviewed on the show, and their stories chart the very latest about life under Kim Jong-un. For many South Koreans, it’s become a key source of information about their northern neighbour.
Sun Mu: From North Korean Propagandist to Pop Art Defector
By Heenali Patel On Friday 20 November, the Frontline Club hosted a premiere screening of the documentary I Am Sun Mu, a remarkable insight into the life and work of North Korean defector and political pop artist Sun Mu. The film follows Sun Mu as he prepares for his first solo exhibition in Beijing in […]
Screening: I Am Sun Mu + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Adam Sjöberg. I Am Sun Mu documents the life and work of North Korean defector and pop artist ‘Sun Mu’. In North Korea, Sun Mu was a prolific propaganda artist for Kim Jong-un’s regime. After swimming to safety and beginning a new life in South Korea, Sun Mu turned his skills against North Korean leadership, satirising those who he once worshipped.
Insight with North Korean Defector Hyeonseo Lee
By Olivia Acland On Thursday 2 July, Hyeonseo Lee joined an audience at the Frontline Club for a discussion on her experiences as a North Korean defector. Lee, an international campaigner for North Korean human rights and refugee issues, was joined in conversation by author Paul French. One day after dinner, seventeen-year-old Lee told her parents that she was going to […]
Insight with Hyeonseo Lee: The Girl with Seven Names – A North Korean Defector’s Story
Hyeonseo Lee was just seventeen when she fled North Korea. She found herself in China, alone and with no identity. Her mother’s first words over the telephone to her lost daughter were “Don’t come back”. We are pleased to welcome her to the Frontline Club to share her insight into growing up in North Korea, the story of her escape and how she went on to rebuild her life and discover her identity.
Screening: The Defector – Escape from North Korea + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Ann Shin.
As the leadership in North Korea changes and Kim Jong-un takes the helm, a man who goes by the name of ‘Dragon’ smuggles North Korean defectors across borders. His latest trip with two women, Sook-Ja and Yong-hee, takes an unexpected turn when they are left stranded in China. This is only the beginning of an extraordinary 5,000 km journey. Their story reflects the reality of tens of thousands of North Koreans currently in hiding in China.
Shorts at the Frontline Club
Join us for an evening of short documentaries, from different parts of the world, covering a wide range of topics. Shorts at the Frontline Club showcases moving, striking and funny films, exploring the many different faces of documentary filmmaking.
Dear Leader: From inside the North Korean elite
By Alex Glynn North Korea’s former poet laureate gave the Frontline Club a rare opportunity to hear about life inside one of the world’s most secretive and intriguing nations, in a discussion about the reality of its present and possibility of its future. Defector Jang Jin-sung was joined by Asia expert and commentator, Peter French, […]
Dear Leader: Inside North Korea
Jang Jin-sung, a poet laureate for North Korea, led a privileged life unaware of the suffering of his fellow countrymen. It was only following a visit to his home town, where he witnessed suffering, starvation and unimaginable poverty, that he began to question the system in which he lived. What followed is an extraordinary story of awakening, terror and escape. Jang Jin-sung will be joining us to share his story and give us an insight in to the circles of power and privilege in North Korea.
North Korea – life inside the secret state, the women who fight back and getting the outside world in
by Sally Ashley-Cound North Korea is the most totalitarian regime still in existence, yet knowledge of the outside world is slowly but relentlessly filtering in, in the form of USB sticks and wind-up radios. Channel 4’s Dispatches followed North Korean defector Mr Chung and Japanese journalist Jiro Ishimaru, who smuggle information and video footage in […]
Preview Screening: North Korea – Life Inside the Secret State
North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un is the world’s youngest dictator, ruling the world’s most repressive state. Through unique undercover material, director and producer James Jones reveals cracks in the regime and investigates the impact the information revolution has had in North Korea. This Channel 4 Dispatches preview screening will be followed by a panel debate with director James Jones. Other speakers to be confirmed.
Shorts at the Frontline Club: The Different Faces of Documentary Filmmaking
By Daniel Alan Kennedy While many people often have a conception of what a documentary “should be” in terms of length, style, content or subject, the Frontline Club’s July 19 screening of four short documentary films demonstrated the breath of different choices available to filmmakers. Ranging from 8 to 25 minutes, the films covered subjects […]
Is North Korea the ticking bomb we thought it to be?
By Alex Glynn Analysts and experts treated the audience to rare accounts and informed insight into the North Korean regime’s mindset on Tuesday 15th April at the Frontline Club. BBC East Asia Editor Charles Scanlon hosted the discussion on the hot topic of North Korea’s threat – is it imminent, or is it overstated? – with former British Ambassador […]
Gay marriage bill vote in France, Navalny trial in Russia, and US growth data – world week ahead
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, International Editor, Foresight News A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday April 22 Foreign Ministers from the European Union, including British Foreign Secretary William Hague, meet in Luxembourg on Monday. Among other things, they are expected to agree to lift remaining sanctions […]
North Korea tensions, China GDP, Thatcher funeral, Italian presidential politics, and Friends of Syria – the world next week
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 15 April North Korea marks the anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder (and grandfather of its current leader) Kim Il-sung. There has been much speculation that the current regime may be […]
North Korea: Sabre-rattling or imminent threat?
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) has announced that it has entered into a ‘state of war’ with the US and the Republic of Korea (ROK). The US defence secretary, Chuck Hagel, has declared that DPRK poses “a real and clear danger”. Is this a war of words or could talk of war precipitate a full-blown military conflict?
Falklands referendum results, UK-Russia talks, and a new Chinese President make for busy week ahead
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 11 March On Monday, a two-day referendum on the political status of the Falklands Islands wraps-up, with the results due that evening. The referendum is largely symbolic, since the islanders overwhelmingly favour retaining […]
Syria’s bloody conflict, fallout from North Korea’s nuclear test, and Italian elections set the scene for another whirlwind week in world news
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 18 February UN investigators looking into atrocities committed in the Syrian conflict will release their latest report on Monday. The commission chair Paulo Pinheiro and member Carla Del Ponte will discuss the report’s […]
Obama’s inauguration, unrest in the Maghreb, and Europe’s future all on the agenda in another busy week
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews.
South Korean elections, Mario Monti press conference and Julian Assange statement feature in the penultimate week of 2012
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 17 December Monday marks two years since Mohamed Bouazizi’s self-immolation, an act of protest that that inspired millions to challenge the status quo across the Middle East. Two years on, despite regime change in […]
A busy week ahead for international news – featuring North Korea, Syria, Iran, Russia, Venezuela and Egypt
A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. Monday 10 December A bombastic week of international news kicks off Monday with the opening of the window for North Korea’s latest satellite launch attempt. The launch will have important implications, both domestic and international. […]
FULLY BOOKED THIRD PARTY EVENT What does the future hold for the people of North Korea?
An event hosted by Mosaic Films to launch their new project Nothing to Envy.
North Korea remains one of the most inaccessible – and the most unfilmable – places in the world. Barbara Demick’s book opened the doors into the lives of ordinary North Koreans and provided a real insight into their stories and the hardships they face. But what is life like in North Korea now, 3 years since the book was written, and since the death of Kim Jong-il and the succession of his son Kim Jong-un?
A criminal fate in North Korea
By Rosie Scammell Shin Dong-Hyuk is the only known person born in a North Korean prison camp to escape. On Tuesday night he told a packed audience that they must help the 200,000 remaining: “The first thing that I remember being told by the prison guard was that we were supposed to be dead a […]
Behind the wall of secrecy: Escape from Camp 14
View event here. View in iTunes By Jim Treadway A packed house heard the touching and frightening story of Shin Dong-hyuk at the Frontline Club, told in Blaine Harden’s recently published book Escape from Camp 14: One man’s remarkable odyssey from North Korea to freedom in the West. Shin Dong-hyuk is one of only three known prisoners […]
FULLY BOOKED Behind the wall of secrecy: Escape from Camp 14
Little is known about the prison camps of North Korea where it is estimated that 200,000 are imprisoned. Shin Dong-Hyuk is the only person born into one of these camps that has ever escaped.
He will be joining us at the Frontline Club with Blaine Harden whose book Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West recounts this extraordinary journey.
The DNA of culture: Jeremy Hunter in conversation with Paddy O’Connell
By Natricia Duncan The Frontline Club was treated to an explosion of colour, culture, festivity and debate as photojournalist Jeremy Hunter explored the “DNA of countries” through pictures. Hunter described how he began travelling as part of his job as a foreign correspondent for NIR-TV in Tehran. Although not employed as a photographer […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 30 January – 5 February
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 30 January to Sunday, 5 February from Foresight News By Nicole Hunt European leaders gather in Brussels on Monday for an informal meeting of the European Council, during which discussions are set to focus on jobs and the new fiscal stabilisation treaty agreed at their controversial […]
ForesightNews world briefing: upcoming events 9 – 15 January
A weekly round up of world events from Monday, 9 to Sunday, 15 January from ForesightNews By Nicole Hunt Monday looks to be the biggest day of what should be an interesting week internationally. Kicking off with the ongoing EU debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Berlin to […]