Yoduk Story
Encyclopedia
Yoduk Story is a stage play by North Korea
n defector Jung Sung San (Jeong Seongsan 정성산), released in 2006. The story is based on stories of political prisoners at the Yodok concentration camp
. This harrowing musical premiered in the US in October 2006. The writer and director, Jung Sung-San was never imprisoned at Yoduk, therefore he has relied on accounts of others who were there, including Kang Chol-Hwan
. Jung was able to escape North Korea and find his way to South Korea, where in 2002, he learned that his father had been publicly stoned to death in the North. In his sorrow and anger, he sought out a way to express all his feelings and promptly began writing this musical. He faced death threats and government pressure to make changes. When financial backers pulled out in the midst of pressure, he put up his kidney as collateral for approximately $20,000.
ACT II
Composer: Cha Kyung-Chan
North Korea
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea , , is a country in East Asia, occupying the northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Its capital and largest city is Pyongyang. The Korean Demilitarized Zone serves as the buffer zone between North Korea and South Korea...
n defector Jung Sung San (Jeong Seongsan 정성산), released in 2006. The story is based on stories of political prisoners at the Yodok concentration camp
Yodok concentration camp
Yodok concentration camp is a political prison camp in North Korea. The official name is Kwan-li-so No. 15.-Location:...
. This harrowing musical premiered in the US in October 2006. The writer and director, Jung Sung-San was never imprisoned at Yoduk, therefore he has relied on accounts of others who were there, including Kang Chol-Hwan
Kang Chol-Hwan
Kang Chol-Hwan is a defector from North Korea. As a child he was imprisoned in the Yodok concentration camp for 10 years; after his release he fled the country, first to China and eventually to South Korea...
. Jung was able to escape North Korea and find his way to South Korea, where in 2002, he learned that his father had been publicly stoned to death in the North. In his sorrow and anger, he sought out a way to express all his feelings and promptly began writing this musical. He faced death threats and government pressure to make changes. When financial backers pulled out in the midst of pressure, he put up his kidney as collateral for approximately $20,000.
Songs
ACT I- 우리를 보라 - Look at Us
- 당의 딸 - Daughter of the Party
- 조심 또 조심 - Careful, Be Careful
- 지옥의 수용소 요덕 - Hellish Prison Yoduk
- 차가운 핏줄 - Cold Blooded
- 죽여! - Kill Him!
- 심장이터지도록 - Until My Heart Bursts
- 언제나 또 볼까? - When Would We Meet Again?
- 나 살기 위해 꿈을 꿔 - I Dream to Survive
- 꿈 꿀 생각 하지마 - Don't Even Dare to Dream
- 오랫동안 꿈 꿔 왔지 - I've Waited for This Moment for So Long
- 난 미쳤어 - I Am Crazy
- 촛물 같은 생명 - Our Lives Are Just Like Candles
ACT II
- 변해가고 있어 - I Am Changing
- 내 마음을 모르겠어 - I Can't Read My Mind
- 때가 되면 - When The Time Comes
- 기도 - Prayer
- 내 마음대로 걷고 싶어 - I Want To Walk Free
- 마지막이 될지 모를 이 순간 - This Moment May Be Our Last
- 요덕이를 살려야해 - Save Yoduk
- 세균같은 자들 - You Are Like A Disease
Plot
"Kang Ryun-Hwa, an award winning North Korean musical performer, learns that her father was charged as a spy working for the South Korean Intelligence Agency. She is taken to Yoduk along with her family, as in North Korea, families are punished for the crime of an individual. Upon arrival, Ryun-Hwa is raped by Lee Myung-Soo, the Captain of the prison guards. Ryun-Hwa, pregnant with Myung Soo's child, struggles to forgive him and slowly tries to love him. Humbled and transformed by Ryun-Hwa's forgiving and loving heart, Myung-Soo falls in love with Ryun-Hwa, and advises Ryun-Hwa to escape with their baby, Yoduk, to South Korea. Myung-Soo is sentenced to death for trying to save Ryun-Hwa and Yoduk. Meanwhile, another inmate, a Christian North Korean rock musician, encourages and supports his fellow inmates by telling them of the hope they can have in God and His Son, Jesus Christ. He is captured when he is forced to flee and Kang's younger brother is shot by accident. He sacrifices himself by pretending he is the father of Kang's baby. Also an ambitious lieutenant of Lee, communicates with the government but is shown to lead a mutiny. When he is threatened with death, it is shown that he killed people to wash clean his career. At the end, he tries to persuade and help Kang and her baby and husband escape but is shot by Sergeant Ko. Ko is actually a spy for the government and shoots dead the prisoners and Kang as she is scaling the top of the huge wall. The baby drops down the wall and is saved and Lee decides to save others who will be brought, tortured, and killed in this prison by destroying it. Using a remote detonator, he fires it and hidden machine gun nests fire at the prison guards. Finally he pulls out and uses a secret grenade to destroy the rest of the prison and the torturers—and his own life. Finally the narrator is shown to be the baby Yoduk, who tells of his parents' death but their love. Then the characters appear and sing, "God, Please Come to North Korea." This musical is based on the stories of people who experienced the horrors of North Korean prisons depicted in Yoduk, the living hell on earth."Composer: Cha Kyung-Chan
Cast
- Kang Ryun-Hwa - Yunjung Choi
- Lee Myung-Soo - Jaechong Lim
- Ra Hyuk-Chul - Junkyum Kim
- Lee Tae-Sik - Wankyu Park
- Kang Man-Sik - Sundong Kim
- Crazy Woman - Changkyung Lee
- Lee Yoduk - Jonghwa Ryu
Articles
http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2006/02/24/realities_of_n_korean_prison_camp_brought_to_stage____with_music/External links
- http://www.yodukprison.com/
- Anti-Socialist Realism John Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus, November 17, 2006