Iraqi government figures indicate that August was Iraq’s deadliest month in over a year, with nearly 400 civilians dying in violent attacks. Two massive truck bombings at Iraqi ministries were responsible for more than a hundred of those deaths. Over 1,500 civilians were also wounded in bomb and mortar attacks in August.

In a statement posted to the Current TV website, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee explain the events surrounding their arrest and sentencing to 12 years hard labor for illegally entering North Korea. The journalists say they entered the country briefly but were on Chinese soil when apprehended by North Korean soldiers. The two were released on August 4th after the intervention of former U.S. President Bill Clinton.

An earthquake measuring magnitude 7.3 kills over 32 people and damages over 1,300 homes on Indonesia’s main island of Java.

A member of an Islamic sect responsible for an uprising that killed 700 in northern Nigeria tells reporters that he trained in Afghanistan. If confirmed, the link would be the first to connect Nigerian and Afghan Islamists.

The top U.S. officials in charge of North Korea policy and nuclear talks announce plans to travel to Pyongyang next month for the first bilateral nuclear negotiations between the two countries. The news follows Sunday’s state funeral for former President Kim Dae-jung, a Nobel laureate who was revered for his dedication to human rights and peace on the Korean Peninsula during his tenure from 1998 to 2003. The funeral prompted a meeting between officials from the North and South in which North Korean officials called for “progress in inter-Korean relations.”

Conservative officials in Iran snub President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by appointing the man he fired from the post of intelligence minister as the country’s state prosecutor. Iran also confirms it will cooperate with United Nations inspectors seeking to access its nearly complete nuclear reactor.

The release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, comes under the scrutiny of Arab press commentators who question whether the decision to release the cancer-stricken prisoner was motivated by Western business interests in Libya. Scottish officials are also under scrutiny from their fellow lawmakers, and Americans launch an international campaign to stop consumers buying Scottish products.

Fire-fighters beat back wildfires in the suburbs of Athens, forcing thousands to flee and putting the government on the defensive before a pending election. The main opposition leader referred to the fires as an “unprecedented ecological catastrophe.”

Millions of ballots are being counted in Afghanistan’s second presidential election. Afghan officials say that voter turnout was good despite violence targeted at polling stations, but election observers suggest less than 50 percent of eligible voters went to the polls.

North Korea plans to send a high-level delegation to South Korea to pay respects to former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, who died Tuesday.

More than 1,300 children are poisoned by lead pollution from a new, unlicensed manganese smelter in China’s Hunan province. This is the second mass lead poisoning incident in China in the past month.

Iran media reports that more than 5,000 security forces guard the block outside President Ahmadinejad’s swearing in ceremony and use tear gas against nearby demonstrators who shouted “death to the dictator.” When the U.S., France, Britain and Germany refused to send a customary congratualtory message, Ahmadinejad replies that, “the Iranian nation neither values your scowls and threats, nor your smiles and greetings.” His next step is to introduce his new cabinet, which must be approved by members of parliament, many of whom boycotted his inauguration.

While urging American companies to invest in Africa at a trade conference on the first stop on her tour of the continent, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the U.S. is disappointed at the slow pace of prosecuting the masterminds of post election violence in Kenya. At least 1,000 people were killed and about 650,000 were evicted from their homes as a result of the violence.

Delegates nearly come to blows during the first Fatah General Conference in two decades after participants demand information on the 20 years of the Palestinian political party’s activities and finances since the last conference, and discover that the Central Committee prepared no reports for the conference. President Mahmoud Abbas opens the conference in the West Bank city of Bethlehem by saying, “It is a miracle that Fatah is still standing strong in spite of all that has happened.”

Russian military officials suspect Georgia is planning new military action, and say unnamed third countries are helping Georgia rebuild its military potential. Last August’s war saw Russian forces expel invading Georgian troops from South Ossetia amid accusations on both sides of human rights abuses. Russia eventually recognized the independence of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia, another former Georgian republic.

Australian police arrest four men linked to a hardline Somali group, charging them with planning a suicide attack on a military base. Police say a warehouse turned makeshift mosque in North Melbourne was a key hub in a sprawling militant Islamist network, whose base in the Horn of Africa is a center of global terrorism.

Sudanese riot police fire tear gas to disperse more than 100 protesters who gather outside a Khartoum courthouse in support of a woman journalist who faces up to 40 lashes for dressing “indecently” in a pair of trousers. Judges delay their verdict until September 7.

Iran’s security officials confirm the arrest of three American nationals in the western city of Marivan, charging the detainees with “illegal entry” and beginning their interrogation. The two men and one woman were in a popular hiking area. One of the men is a journalist whose editor says he was working in Kurdistan.

Survey respondents in China consider sex workers trustworthy, putting them in third place after farmers and religious workers, and ahead of scientists, teachers and government officials. “A list like this is at the same time surprising and embarrassing,” reads an editorial in the China Daily English-language newspaper.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Middle East envoy George Mitchell visit the Middle East this week in an attempt to revive the peace process there. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak tells Gates that “no option should be removed from the table” regarding Israel’s response to Iran’s nuclear program, while Barak and Mitchell near an agreement on West Bank settlement activity.

North Korea says it is open to engaging in bilateral talks with the U.S. regarding its nuclear weapons program, but is not interested in reviving the six-party talks that included China, Japan, Russia, and South Korea.

As many as 100 people are killed in three attacks by Islamic militants in Nigeria, following yesterday’s clashes between militants and the police which killed dozens.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and interim leader Roberto Micheletti make no progress in mediated talks led by the Costa Rican President, a Nobel Peace Prize winner. Zelaya and Micheletti, former political allies, refuse to meet together in the Costa Rican capital of San Jose. Micheletti leaves mid-discussion and returns to Honduras “totally satisfied”.

Chinese authorities close large mosques in Urumqi in order to curb future ethnic violence that has plagued the Xinjian region for a week. After hundreds of Uighurs defy the decision by gathering outside of mosques on the important prayer day, the government allows some worship sites to host shorter services.

North Korea delays the start of U.S. journalists’ labor camp sentence and keeps Laura Ling and Euna Lee in a guest house in the capital, Pyongyang. University of Georgia political scientist states in an interview that “North Korea’s move not to carry out the sentence suggests that it could release them through a dialogue with the United States and they could be set free at an early date, depending on the U.S. gesture.”

Chinese officials accuse four employees of international mining-giant Rio Tinto of bribing Chinese steel company bosses for “state secrets” regarding iron ore price discussions.

U.S. forces launch a major offensive to drive the Taliban out their stronghold in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

The U.N. elects Yukiya, Amano, from Japan, to replace Mohamed El Baradei as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency when Baradei steps down in November.

North Korea fires four short-range missiles amidst increased tension ever since the U.N. imposed sanctions after the country’s May 25 nuclear test.

“Recounts the harrowing, heartbreaking stories of North Korean refugees
who escape – or try to – across the border into China”
–Miami Herald

“The kind of suspense Hollywood cannot manufacture”
– Wall Street Journal

About the Film

In the past decade, up to 100,000 defectors have crossed the waters of the Tumen and Yalu Rivers into northeast China to escape from North Korea, the world’s last closed Communist state. In Crossing Heaven’s Border, WIDE ANGLE tells the moving and dramatic stories of a few of them.

Crossing Heaven’s Border reveals the plight of North Korean defectors from the point of view of intrepid South Korean journalists who risk their lives filming undercover for ten months to capture the haunting stories first-hand. The reporters introduce us to a mother working in China as a tour guide to support her six-year-old son who is sick with cerebral palsy and in dire need of medical attention. And we follow the grueling ten-day journey of a teenage girl and a little boy smuggled overland across China and Laos into Thailand, where North Korean defectors can request asylum at the South Korean embassy.

About the Issue

The exodus began in the mid-90s when North Korea was plagued by a famine that killed up to a million people. Most defectors flee from North Korea’s poor border regions into northeast China, where they live in hiding, work illegally and have no access to education or medical care. More than three quarters of the defectors are women, many of whom work in the sex industry. If caught by Chinese authorities, they are repatriated to North Korea, where they face severe punishment: persecution, torture, even execution in prison camps. Only a lucky few reach their ultimate goal: asylum in South Korea.

WIDE ANGLE anchor Aaron Brown further explores the plight of defectors from North Korea in a post-film interview with Debra Liang-Fenton, a human rights expert with the United States Institute of Peace, and the former Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

In this WIDE ANGLE web exclusive, she talks about her daily life in North Korea as a school teacher, a Christian, and finally as a prisoner.

Edited together with rare footage shot in May 2009 by French cameramen Eric Lafforgue, Jean Louis Cruz and Alexandre Spalaikovitch, this interview lifts the Bamboo Curtain to shed light on daily life inside one of the world’s most closed regimes.

Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
This group of foreign policy and human rights specialists promotes human rights in North Korea, with a focus on closing forced labor prison camps, supporting North Korean women trafficked in China, and fostering a code of conduct for companies invested there.

Durihana
Based in South Korea, this Christian organization aids North Korean defectors and helps them settle in a safe place. Founder Pastor Chun Ki-won was arrested in 2002 by Chinese police on the Mongolian escape route he pioneered, helping to raise awareness about the plight of defectors. 

Life Funds for North Korean Refugees
This Japanese group staffs shelters along the China-North Korea border and supplies defectors with rice and clothing. It also operates an education sponsorship program for abandoned children whose North Korean mothers were repatriated.

LiNK (Liberty in North Korea)
LiNK is a U.S. and Seoul-based non-profit that raises awareness about the human rights and humanitarian crisis in North Korea through the use of media and grassroots support. It helps refugees by sheltering them, advocating for them, and helping them resettle in countries.

North Korea Freedom Coalition
This coalition of 60 organizations hosts the annual North Korea Freedom Week. It was the driving force for the 2004 North Korea Human Rights Act, and works to ensure it is fully implemented. Private members also provide humanitarian relief inside North Korea and China.

You can suggest other organizations to contact or share your experiences with these groups by leaving a comment.

Disclaimer: WIDE ANGLE offers this list as a resource. PBS is not an advocacy organization, we are not affiliated with these organizations, nor do their views represent those of PBS.