A joint North Korean-European movie will be shown in an international movie festival to be held in South Korea next month, the Unification Ministry said Friday.

The ministry said it has approved the screening of “Comrade Kim Goes Flying,” a film jointly directed by North Korean, English and Belgian directors, during the Busan International Film Festival, which will kick off on Oct. 4 for a 10-day run.

Handling of North Korean publications or other materials is prohibited in the South.

“The ministry allowed the movie in purely for the sake of cultural exchange (with North Korea),” a spokesman said.

He said festival organizer expressed its intention to invite the film’s director and actors from the North, and added the ministry will likely approve the invitation.

The screening of the romantic comedy with an 82-minute running time marks the first airing of a North Korean film in the South under the current administration.

The film, shot in Pyongyang with a North Korean cast and crew, is the first Western-financed fiction feature made entirely in North Korea. (Yonhap News)