A North Korean Defector Explores His Sexual Identity In ‘3670’

Park Joon-ho was nominated for the Best New Director award at the upcoming 46th Blue Dragon Awards. He received the nomination for his first feature film, 3670, which screens this month at the London Korean Film Festival. It’s the story of Cheol-jun, a North Korean defector, adjusting to life in South Korea, where, for the first time he’s free to acknowledge his sexual identity. It would have been impossible, even dangerous, to say he was gay in North Korea. The story was inspired by Park’s years of teaching English to North Korean defectors in their 20s.

“The stories of those students left a strong impression on me,” said Park. “And that experience then became the basis for my previous short film, Eunseo, and naturally led to the topics addressed in 3670.”

The stories he heard from his students often involved harrowing escapes.

“Cheol-jun’s defection in church comes directly from a student’s lived experience,” said Park. “Most defections take place across the Chinese border, and it’s a rare case where someone paddles across the sea to come to South Korea. That student didn’t even know how to swim. I was deeply moved by the urgency and courage it must have taken for him to put his life on the line for his freedom.”

Adjusting to freedom is not always easy for defectors.

“It depends a lot on the individual’s developmental background,” said Park. “In the cases of the students I taught, most of them came to South Korea without receiving much of an education. At first it was daunting for them to have to make their own choices and choose their own paths in a competitive capitalist system, especially since they’d grown up living exactly the way the regime required of them. The fact that they had to take responsibility for their own decisions was almost a burden for them.”

Those who defected to South Korea in their teens could transfer to a regular school, but many who came in their 20s still needed basic education.

“The place where I taught tried to fill that gap of basic education,” said Park. It provided the studies necessary for college entrance exams, including English lessons.”

Park is confident such practical difficulties can be overcome, yet it seems to him that the biggest challenge for defectors is the discriminatory views held by South Korean society.

“The remnants of a long history of division and ideological conflict still exist and South Korean society is not very tolerant of any migrants, including North Korean defectors,” said Park. “Many defectors therefore choose not to reveal their origins in their daily lives, and it’s hard for them to find community in South Korea. To me, this is the deepest and most fundamental difficulty they face.”

As part of his adjustment Cheol-jun also explores his sexual identity.

“Being gay in South Korea is much easier than in North Korea,” said Park. “However, even in South Korean society, the existence of LGBTQ+ people is not legally or systematically recognized, and they are not particularly welcome culturally. Living openly as a gay person in South Korea is very rare, as you risk exclusion from your family, workplace and society. Even so, the gay community in South Korea has cultivated a dynamic, vibrant culture amid such a harsh environment.”

Such friendship and camaraderie are portrayed in the film.

“There are many social gatherings that are unique to the South Korean gay community and which are hard to find in other countries,” said Park. “The size and dynamics of the community have also grown remarkably in recent years. In the past, gay clubs used to be found only in dark alleys, but these days they can be found on bustling streets. I think this is a symbol of change that allows the LGBTQ+ community of South Korea to be more confident and open. It’s also clear that society is becoming more tolerant of LGBTQ+ issues, little by little.”

Cheon-jun (Cho You-hyun) slowly opens up to others and makes a friend, Yeong-jun, played by Kim Hyeon-mok (Extraordinary You, Bon Appétit, Your Majesty, Love Your Enemy).

“I have a great deal of respect and pride for the gay community in South Korea, which has cultivated a unique culture despite such a difficult legal and social environment,” said Park. “That’s why I wanted to make a movie in which the gay community is almost like another protagonist.”

There are a few karaoke scenes in the film. It’s a place to let off steam, but also a place to be loud and proud.

“There are two types of karaoke that appear in this film,” said Park. “The first is a coin karaoke room. This is an inexpensive place where you can insert coins and sing songs one by one. This makes it easy to use by anyone of any age. The rooms are divided so you have some privacy, and people who are living in multi-person households often use it as a way to catch their breath for a while.”

According to Park, karaoke in the gay community has another personality.

“There, karaoke involves going up on stage in front of scores of people and showing off by singing in front of them,” said Park. “This karaoke culture of singing in front of other people is something that really only exists in the gay community in South Korea, so I wanted to be sure to include this space in the movie. Culturally, many Koreans are shy about expressing their feelings straightforwardly and regard it as something disrespectful or shameful. So music becomes an alternative language with which to express emotions.”

When Park decided to make this film he had no idea how the story might be received. He did not imagine a Blue Dragon nomination.

“While I was working on this film, I was full of doubt about whether or not it would touch the viewers’ hearts,” said Park of his nomination. “I couldn’t be certain how the film would be received or what might come of it. My previous short films had never received this much attention, so everything that’s happening now feels strange and surreal. I think I’ve been very lucky that my first feature film has received such a positive response. I want to use this experience as a driving force to continue my film work in the future.”

North Korean defectors often appear in Korean media, but to Park the lives of these characters have in the past seemed fragmentary.

“I always thought it was regrettable that North Korean defectors are defined only by their place of origin,” said Park. “Of course, the difficulties of life in North Korea and the life-or-death process of defection are important experiences in their lives, but those experiences are in the past, and now it’s about moving forward into the present. I think that’s true for any immigrant. I came to this realization thanks to my students. I wanted to illustrate the present and future of North Korean defectors instead of only their pasts, which is what led me to create Eunseo and 3670.”

3670, a moving film about experiencing freedom and finding joy, can be seen at the London Korean Film Festival on Nov. 12. The festival runs from Nov. 5–18.