A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea

News of her mother’s death devastates Miyoko, and hardship intensifies as the family’s village transforms into a military base. Forced to relocate, the family endures a brutal winter and the soldiers’ cruelty. Masaji finds love, but disapproval of his Japanese heritage shatters his dreams of marriage. A political shift allows the family to return home, and they find temporary solace in the camaraderie and financial support of fellow returnees Young Seok-pong and Lee Song-rak. Both men help Masaji’s sisters, Eiko and Hifumi, marry other returnees. This short-lived support network crumbles as the North Korean party ostracizes these men, driving one to death by suicide and the other to destitution. Similarly, another returnee’s wife appears numbed after spending a decade in a forced labor camp. Witnessing the regime’s cruelty and the despair of those around him, Masaji begins to see violence as a potential escape. He gets involved in a fight with a doctor who demands payment for his services and evades repercussions through his father’s intervention.

Masaji starts a new role due to North Korea’s plans for farmland expansion, which, despite involving backbreaking labor, provides him with food and clothes. When Masaji returns home, he discovers his father has arranged his marriage to a woman named Lee He-suku.