AllMovie

The political divide between Japan and South Korea is mirrored in the troubled relationship between a woman and her parents in this documentary. Filmmaker Yang Yonghi was born to ethnically Korean parents living in Japan; hoping to spare their three sons the severe prejudice they believe befalls Koreans in Japan, Yonghi's parents sent the boys to live with family in Korea, though they opted to keep their daughter Yonghi with them in Osaka. Yonghi took a camera crew with her to Korea as she visited her brothers, seeing them for the first time in years, and talked with them about how the separation from their parents left a mark upon their lives. Later Yonghi returned to Japan and interviewed her mother and father about the decisions they made in their lives, their feelings about both Korea and Japan, and their relationship with their children. Dear Pyongyang received its North American premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.