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

Masaji’s sister Masako is abandoned by a man for her Japanese heritage and faces pregnancy alone. Masaji confronts her partner in a fight, but his family arranges for Masako’s marriage to a widowed returnee instead. Encouraged by his father, Masaji weds Kim Te-sul, a divorced returnee, but they live separately, as Kim looks after her bedridden grandmother. Masako returns home with two stepchildren after being expelled by her husband. She suffers after her newborn son dies after three months. Overwhelmed by his family’s relentless suffering, Masaji starts an unofficial charcoal burning job in a remote area in hopes of isolating himself and evading government bureaucracy. He faces substance use disorder alongside other troubled workers. Visiting home for his daughter’s birth briefly uplifts him, but he feels hopeless about his family’s future. After being ignored by a wealthy returnee during the visit, he grapples with feelings of worthlessness, leading to a failed attempt at death by suicide. A coworker rescues him, and Masaji feels he got another chance at life.

Masaji rejoins his family as the food shortages worsen. He builds a makeshift shack, and they live independently from the government, resorting to theft, foraging, and selling blood to feed themselves. Malnutrition weakens Masaji’s wife during her second pregnancy, and birth complications land her in the hospital.