Documentary focuses on 'Sona', the daughter of the director's brother who moved to North Korea from Japan in the early 1970s. Through Sona, the film shows the generation that migrated from Japan to North Korea and their offspring who were born and raised in North Korea. Sona's upbringing is quite normal, but the special aspects within North Korean society make their presence known in a subtle way. By showing the process of the migratory people establishing their identities within North Korean society, North Korea becomes a region that shows a universal view of human society in general and not just a closed society. This approach is a special feature of Yang. She adds normalcy through her depiction of a family to 'North Korea'; a name that we have come to regard as something quite special.

From the late 1950s through the '70s, more than 90,000 of the ethnic Koreans in Japan emigrated to North Korea, a country that promised them affluence, justice, and an end to discrimination. KAZOKU NO KUNI tells the story of one of their number, who returns for just a short period. For the first time in 25 years, Sonho is reunited with his family in Tokyo after being allowed to undergo an operation there. Sonho’s younger sister Rie is at the centre of the film, and is not hard to recognise as the director’s alter-ego. In her documentaries DEAR PYONGYANG and SONA, THE OTHER MYSELF, Yang Yonghi told the story of her own life, and how, at age six, she experienced the departure of her three older brothers, who left their family for Pyongyang.