Sponsored by IHC Performance Studies, East Asian Research Focus Groups, and CCWS

In 1962, a U.S. soldier guarding the DMZ deserted his unit, walked across the most heavily fortified border on earth, and defected to North Korea. His name was James Joseph Dresnok, but today, after 40 years of living in Pyongyang and starring in North Korean propaganda movies, he’s better known as Comrade Joe.  Crossing the Line, a documentary directed by Daniel Gordon and co-produced by Nicholas Bonner, goes inside North Korea to tell Dresnok’s story for the first time. Allowed unprecedented access to Dresnok by North Korean authorities, the filmmakers reveal the full story of his defection, as well as the political intrigue and personal passions that have kept him behind the Cold War’s last frontier ever since.