Cha Acts North Korean Defector

Lead actor Cha In-pyo and director Kim Tae-kyun finally revealed the plot and some details of the film, "Crossing."It talks about North Korean defectors, a story which is seen as politically sensitive.In the film, Cha In-pyo acts as a North Korean defector living in a mining village in northeastern Hamgyeong Province in the North.He crosses the northern border with China to get food and medicine for his sick wife.

Director Kim commented that the production staff members had interviewed more than 100 North Korean defectors to portray their miserable lives more precisely.He thanked the North Korean defectors' organizations for their cooperation.

Cha said he rejected the initial offer because he thought the film's topic wouldn't draw interest from audiences.But after he happened to see a photo showing starving North Korean kids, he felt guilty for not helping them who are around his kids' age and later decided to accept the offer.

Last 'Harry Potter' Book Becomes Two Films

Harry Potter series lovers who enjoyed all seven novels will have a bonus. Films with Harry Potter stories will be eight, instead of seven. The seventh and also the last Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows(해리포터와 죽음의 성물)" will be made into two films.

According to recent media coverage, Warner Bros. has decided to split the story into two parts on the screen. The first film will be released in November 2010 and the second film will follow in May 2011.

David Yates, director of the fifth and sixth films, "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix(해리 포터와 불사조 기사단)" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince(해리 포터와 혼혈 왕자)" will also be directing the two final films.

Producer of the Harry Potter films, David Heyman said that this decision was made because of creative reasons since unlike other books of the series, producers cannot remove elements of this last book to put it in one film.

Korea's first astronaut will be a woman

The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said last Monday that Korea's first person to go into space will be 29-year-old Yi So-yeon.Initially, 31-year-old Ko San was Korea's first choice.However, he broke Russia's training rules twice.Therefore, Russia asked Korea to replace him with Yi.Ko will remain as a backup astronaut.

"We believe that Yi will have no difficulty fulfilling her mission.Yi and Ko did well equally in the training process, and they trained side by side." the ministry said.
Yi will be the world's 49th woman to go into space.And she will be the second woman in Asia to go into space, following Japan's Chiaki Mukai.

She will blast off into space aboard the Russian spaceship Soyuz on April 8.