KIM IL SUNG's Children

Children who were shaped by Kim Il-Sung's ideal
instead of Stalin’s.

From 1950 to 1953 One hundred thousand children were orphaned by the Korean War.
With no resources to mend the wounds, the two sides, North and South, took different paths to find homes and families for the war orphans.

While the children of South Korea were sent to Europe and the United States through ‘International Adoption’, the children of North Korea were distributed across Eastern Europe through a method called ‘Commissioned Education’.

As a result, more than five thousand children from the North had to spend nearly a decade living in foreign lands across Eastern Europe.

Children who were shaped by Kim IL Sung's ideals, instead of Stalin's. Their lives remained unknown by the rest of the world until now.

  • Deog Young Kim
    Director
  • Deog Young Kim
    Writer
  • Sooyoung Lim
    Producer
  • Junhee You
    Producer
  • Georgeta Mircioiu
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 25 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 5, 2020
  • Production Budget:
    200,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Korea, Republic of
  • Country of Filming:
    Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania
  • Language:
    Bulgarian, Czech, English, German, Hungarian, Korean, Polish, Romanian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Rome International Movie Awards 'Best Feature Documentary Award'
    Rome
    Italy
    November 2, 2020
    Italian premiere
    Best Feature Documentary Award
  • Eastern Europe Film Festival

    Silver Award
  • International New York Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    June 10, 2020
    North American Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Nice international Film Festival
    Nice
    France
    July 1, 2020
    European premiere
    Official Seletion
  • Los Angeles Television, Script, and Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    Semi-Finalist
  • Santa Cruz International Film Festival
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    May 10, 2020
    South American premiere
    official seletion
  • DUMBO Film Festival
    New York
    United States
    Official Selection
  • Cyrus International Film Festival of Toronto

    Canada
    Semi-Finalist
  • Pyeongchang International Film Festival

    Korea, Republic of
    Officail Invitation
  • Global Migration Film Festival (UN)

    Official Selection
  • Golden Tree International Documentary Film Festival
    Berlin
    Germany
    Official Selection
  • Rasnov Film and Histories Festival 

    Romania
    Official Selection
  • Tokyo Lift-off film festival
    Tokyo
    Japan
    June 15, 2020
    official seletion
  • Polish International Film Festival

    Official Selection
  • Deptford Cinema On Demand

    United Kingdom
    Official Selection
Distribution Information
  • Janson Media
    Sales Agent
    Country: United States
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Deog Young Kim

born in 1965, Seoul, South Korea
working for making documentary for 30 years.
director and writer

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

I've been filmming in 5 Eastern European countries, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czech, and Hungary, to find out the secret and hidden historical evidences.

It took a pretty long time to complete this documentary for 15 years. Finally We found over 100 pictures, 35mm documentary film, 50 letters from North Korean orphans sent to Eastern European people.

Also, I could Interview with Eastern European classmates of North Korean orphans and teachers who shared memories at those times in the 1950s.

This work contains precious records about humanism in the war period.

“Human history was a history of endless war,
and the biggest victims of the war were women and children.
There are many works that deal with war heroes and battles,
No work seriously considered the issue of war orphans.
This historical event is a story of conscience that mankind must hold.
In the 1950s, when many people dreamed of socialist cosmopolitan,
but there was only KIM IL SUNG who had dreamed about his own kingdom.
That was starting point the destiny of North Korea, Unusual, Declusive country.”
(Director, KIM DEOG-YOUNG)