AI-created video of missionaries detained in North Korea to air this month

An artificial intelligence-created video featuring three South Korean Christian missionaries who have been detained in North Korea for 10 years will air this month as part of a campaign to address issues related to detainees.

Choi Jin-young, the son of South Korean Christian missionary Choi Chun-gil, who has been detained in North Korea for 10 years, urges the North to release his father during a rally in front of the North Korea embassy in Berlin on Oct. 31. [YONHAP]

An artificial intelligence-created video featuring three South Korean Christian missionaries who have been detained in North Korea for 10 years will air this month as part of a campaign to address issues related to detainees, the Unification Ministry said Tuesday.

The video campaign was launched on the occasion of a Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session, scheduled for Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland, to discuss North Korea's human rights situation.

Throughout this month, an AI-generated video featuring three detainees will be posted on the ministry's website and social media accounts, and it will also air on large outdoor screens in Seoul, according to the ministry.

The three are Choi Chun-gil, Kim Jung-wook and Kim Kook-kie — Christian missionaries who were all initially detained in North Korea between 2013 and 2014 on charges of spying for South Korea's intelligence agency and remain in custody.

The video compares the missionaries' images during their press conference in North Korea after their detention with AI-generated images of them exulting in happiness after their release and return home.

The unification ministry stated that it will continue efforts to secure mutual international understanding and collaboration to encourage countries to speak up on the North's human rights issue during the upcoming UPR session.

Yonhap