VIFF -- Review: School for Defectors

An intimate look at North Korean students in the south

School for Defectors (2026)

North Koreans who want to escape to the south face enormous challenges, not only the physical one of traveling over 3,000 miles through China, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand, but also the emotional trauma of leaving their families behind, or the possibility of being killed during their journey, and what will happen to their children if they die? 

There are no statistics on how many North Koreans attempt to escape, but they are desperate for a better life.

If they make it to the south, the next challenge is settling in, as their accent is different, let alone their appearance being malnourished and wearing dowdy clothes, and how will their children adapt and catch up academically?

The documentary focused on this school

In South Korea there are 10 special schools for these North Korean children to study and help them not only integrate into society, but also learn about democracy, freedom and become good people.

School for Defectors focuses on one senior high school which is different from the other nine in that it only accepts 20 students and they all must board; the principal says it helps the children integrate faster if they are not with their parents. 

The audience basically observe a whole academic school year, from the intake of students through interviews with the principal and teachers, to attending classes, applying for university, and graduating. There is also a peek into dorm life, watching them clean their rooms for inspection, and eating meals in the cafeteria.

The principal and teachers are so supportive of the students, praising and encouraging them, as they know their escaping to the south was no easy feat, and that they may feel inferior or insecure, but the students in turn are also eager to learn, hardworking and some of them eventually come out of their shells to be talkative, boisterous, and even exceptional dancers.

The students are hardworking a funny

One segment shows interviews with some of the parents who described their plight to the south, with one poignant scene of a father who had thought of what to do if he and his wife and daughter were caught by North Korean soldiers, while another family had to leave their older son and elderly grandmother behind.

Nevertheless, the optimistic energy from the students, teachers and principal are what uplifts School for Defectors, which resulted in lots of clapping in the theatre when the documentary ended.

Director Jeremy Workman attended the screening with producer and Korean-American actor Daniel Dae Kim.

It turns out I had seen Workman's previous documentary, Secret Mall Apartment two years ago and thought it was a crazy but intriguing story.

He explained that when he was in South Korea screening another film he had made, Workman was asked to show it at that school, and that's how he met the principal, who speaks good English.

Workman learned about more about the school, and was fascinated by it and was eager to possibly do a documentary about it. He got the green light from the principal, and anyone who didn't want to participate was not filmed, or their faces were pixelated if they were worried about relatives back in North Korea.

Workman (centre) and Kim (right) at the Q&A

He said he went back several times to film at the school, though he had a crew based there who filmed as well. One of the students at first was so painfully shy that she barely said a word, but by the end of the school year, she was willing to talk on camera about her school project, collecting first-hand accounts of North Koreans who escaped to the south and compiling them into a booklet.

What was not clearly explained in the film, that Kim talked about in the Q&A, was that the journey to escape was extremely dangerous, not only in avoiding getting shot by North Korean soldiers, but also avoiding arrest and deportation in China, sometimes having to stay there for years to earn enough money to continue their escape, or women being sex trafficked and being forced to marry Chinese men.

Then they had to trek through Cambodia, Laos and Thailand which involved going through jungles, difficult terrain, and having enough stamina to make it to South Korea.

School for Defectors was definitely one of the more memorable documentaries I saw this year, appreciating how much the students and their parents have gone through, and hoping they will succeed in whatever they do after high school.

School for Defectors

Directed by Jeremy Workman

92 minutes

China Caught in Massive Tariff Showdown

Trump said people were getting "yippy" in tariffs reversal

This morning over dim sum all the chatter was over US President Donald Trump imposing 104 percent tariffs on China.

About an hour later we saw stocks that were blood red were suddenly in the green -- Trump had reversed course and dropped worldwide tariffs down to 10 percent and 90 day pause -- except for China, which he imposed a jaw-dropping 125 percent.

Canada and Mexico still face 25 percent tariffs on cars, steel and aluminium.

Leavitt adamant tariff U-turn was art of the deal

The S&P 500 shot up more than 9 percent, but still not back "to normal". 

Trump gave in after massive selling on the bond markets, which are supposed to be a place of refuge for shell-shocked investors. Instead they were worried a recession was coming, if not here already.

"Over the last few days it looked pretty glum," Trump said. "I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippy. They were getting a little bit afraid."

His spokesperson Karoline Leavitt insisted to the media the move was part of the plan all along.

"Many of you in the media clearly missed The Art of the Deal," she said referring to Trump's book on negotiating. "You clearly failed to see what President Trump is doing here. You tried to say that the rest of the world would be moved closer to China, when in fact we've seen the opposite effect."

As for the 125 percent tariffs, Trump is expecting Xi to call him to negotiate... 

Talk about pushing to the limit. But China may not back down, and it's strong enough not to. Perhaps this is Beijing's way to call Trump's bluff?

One of the Chinese captured in Ukraine

Another story that grabbed headlines was Chinese citizens fighting in Ukraine for Russia. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky stated two were captured and showed a video of them being interrogated. They had Chinese identification and bank cards.

The Ukrainian leader later claimed there were over 150 such Chinese citizens who were recruited by Russia to fight; unlike the North Korean soldiers, they were not officially sent there by Beijing.

Nevertheless, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said Bejing was "verifying the relevant situation", but dismissed the suggestion that more Chinese citizens were participating in the war. 

Officially Beijing has claimed to be neutral and pushing for peace, but has diplomatically and financially backed Moscow by buying large quantities of oil. 

Zelensky claimed Russia recruited the Chinese citizens via social media, and it was a sign that Russian President Vladimir Putin was not interested in peace.

"Ukraine believes that such blatant involvement of Chinese citizens in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine during the war of aggression is a deliberate step toward the expansion of the war, and is yet another indication that Moscow simply needs to drag out the fighting," Zelensky said.

HK Near Bottom of Press Freedom Index

This year's press freedom map, with HK as "difficult situation"

Today is World Press Freedom Day.

The World Press Freedom Index was released and Hong Kong has risen slightly to 140 from 148 this year, while China is at 179, just above North Korea at the very bottom of the list.

Put into perspective, Hong Kong is behind Colombia and Cameroon, but above Somalia and Brunei. 

The city's ranking plunged last year after the national security law was implemented in 2020 -- that is in stark contrast to when Hong Kong was ranked as high as 18 in 2002 when the World Press Freedom Index was first released. 

Ranking of all the countries from Norway as No. 1 to North Korea at 180

"The slight rise in the index this year is mostly due to the fact of adjustment in the index after [a] sharp drop of 68 places last year -- at the same time, Hong Kong has scored lower or the same as last year in three of five indicators... and the most notably the lowest in the legal factor," Cedric Alviani, East Asia bureau director of Reporters Without Borders [RSF] said.

The "legal factor" Alviani is referring to is the trials of editors and reporters at the defunct Apple Daily and Stand News. 

He said the watchdog recorded 13 "press freedom defenders" detained under "trumped up charges".

Most notably in the last few weeks there has been a concerted campaign by Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's lawyers and his son Sebastien to raise awareness of the tycoon and how Lai has already served one of his sentences for illegal assembly and is serving another sentence of five years and nine months for a fraud case. His trial for allegedly violating the national security law will start in September.

Alviani notes the deteriorating situation in HK

"In the past month -- and week -- we have also observed cases of media outlets being barred from reporting on official events, while a few journalists including from independent online media outlets have been followed," Alviani said.

He also noted the increasing number of journalists in exile, including those who made "a very difficult decision to leave their home due to increasing pressure from the government" for places including the UK and Taiwan.

Alviani said the slight change in Hong Kong's ranking in the index should not be seen as an improvement, but rather the ranking movement of other countries and the index adjustment.

Journalism is not a crime.

Journalism is not a crime.

Journalism is not a crime.