Screening – Dirty Little Secrets

This summer marked the 60th anniversary of the start of the Korean War, a three year conflict between Communist North Korea and a South Korea supported by a UN coalition headed by the US.

Two million civilians were killed or wounded during the conflict which six decades on is yet to be formally resolved.

Dirty Little Secrets explores a lesser known aspect of the conflict, namely North Korean claims “germ” bombs containing insects, shellfish and feathers infected with anthrax, typhoid and bubonic plague were dropped on Korean villages during the conflict.

The US has always denied these claims, dismissing them as crude propaganda.  Nevertheless, Pyongyang continues to press for an apology for the “outrage”.

After four years of negotiations, filmmaker Tim Tate persuaded Pyongyang’s secretive rulers to allow him access to the sites of the alleged attacks – and to the now elderly men who claim to have witnessed them.   Each frame of the filming was subject to rigid control, but his investigation – for Al Jazeera’s People & Power series – uncovered detailed documentary evidence and testimony in the United States that appears to support North Korea’s claims. 

Directed by Tim Tate
A People & Power Special Investigation
2010

Shortlisted for the 2010 Grierson Awards