A Tour of the Largest Film Studio in North Korea Gives Kate Whitehead Some Insights Into the Propaganda Machine

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

A Tour of the Largest Film Studio in North Korea Gives Kate Whitehead Some Insights Into the Propaganda Machine

6 FILM Seeing and believing he guide charged with second world war, on the site of a and offered plenty of “on-the-spot A tour of the showing visitors around the small sock factory 16 kilometres guidance”, a key feature of his largest film Korean Film Studio has the north of the capital. legacy. Much is made of Kim Jong- chiselled good looks of Taking heed from the Russian il’s love of films, but it should be The 55-days theory Tsomeone made for the big screen. example, the impact and use of remembered that this was also his studio in North His face remains deadpan as he propaganda was understood early in job: in 1970 he was appointed [and] other advice watches 20 foreigners emerge from North Korea and, despite a limited deputy director in charge of culture Korea gives the tour bus, all looking a little budget, the studios succeeded in and arts in the Propaganda and on filmmaking bedraggled at the end of the day. rolling out a number of feature films Guidance Department by his father, is laid out in Kate Whitehead He leads our Koryo Tours group early on, the first of which was My Kim Il-sung. across the vast entrance to the Home Village in 1949. The film industry’s heyday came Kim Jong- some insights obligatory statue of Kim Il-sung. A drama about a North Korean in the two decades that followed, This one shows the man the North who escapes from a Japanese- through the 1970s and 1980s, when il’s book into the Koreans call the Great Leader with a administered prison and becomes some of the country’s best-loved group of filmmakers, an old-style an underground operative for the movies were made. propaganda camera projector to his left, his arm Korean People’s Revolutionary Among them were The Flower resting on a young girl’s shoulders. Army, “the film touched the Girl (1972), a film version of one machine The group is directed to form a liberated Korean people to the of North Korea’s “Five Great line in front of the statue – hearts, for it contains the content Revolutionary Operas”, and Unsung something we’re getting better at that because there is the Great Heroes, a more than 20-hour film four days into the week-long tour of Leader Comrade Kim Il-sung, there series made between 1978 and 1981, Pyongyang: we bow in unison and is the fatherland and native place whose cast included American one in the party lays a bouquet of for our people and a bright future defectors James Joseph Dresnok and flowers at the foot of the statue. is promised”, according to studio Charles Robert Jenkins. Standard protocol for visiting any literature. Today the Korean Film Studio, state-run enterprise completed, the The film industry got a real boost designated for feature film tour can begin. under the country’s second leader, production, is still active, but its The studio was built in 1947, in Kim Jong-il. He visited the Korean output is down to about 20 films a the immediate aftermath of the Film Studio more than 600 times year – and some suggest it’s even.

Copy Link

Recommended publications

Strangers at Home: North Koreans in the South
STRANGERS AT HOME: NORTH KOREANS IN THE SOUTH Asia Report N°208 – 14 July 2011 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................... i I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 1 II. CHANGING POLICIES TOWARDS DEFECTORS ................................................... 2 III. LESSONS FROM KOREAN HISTORY ........................................................................ 5 A. COLD WAR USES AND ABUSES .................................................................................................... 5 B. CHANGING GOVERNMENT ATTITUDES ......................................................................................... 8 C. A CHANGING NATION .................................................................................................................. 9 IV. THE PROBLEMS DEFECTORS FACE ...................................................................... 11 A. HEALTH ..................................................................................................................................... 11 1. Mental health ............................................................................................................................. 11 2. Physical health ........................................................................................................................... 12 B. LIVELIHOODS ............................................................................................................................
[Show full text]
North Korea: Human Rights Update and International Abduction Issues
NORTH KOREA: HUMAN RIGHTS UPDATE AND INTERNATIONAL ABDUCTION ISSUES JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ASIA AND THE PACIFIC AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AFRICA, GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 27, 2006 Serial No. 109–167 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.house.gov/international—relations U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 27–228PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Mar 21 2002 17:18 Jul 11, 2006 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 F:\WORK\AP\042706\27228.000 HINTREL1 PsN: SHIRL COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, HOWARD L. BERMAN, California Vice Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American ELTON GALLEGLY, California Samoa ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey DANA ROHRABACHER, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio EDWARD R. ROYCE, California BRAD SHERMAN, California PETER T. KING, New York ROBERT WEXLER, Florida STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts RON PAUL, Texas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York DARRELL ISSA, California BARBARA LEE, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon MARK GREEN, Wisconsin SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada JERRY WELLER, Illinois GRACE F.
[Show full text]
Thirty Years Later, Four Army Defectors Are Alive and Living in North Korea
STILL OUT IN THE COLD; THIRTY YEARS LATER, FOUR ARMY DEFECTORS ARE ALIVE AND LIVING IN NORTH KOREA April 15, 1996 By: RICHARD JEROME, LEAH ESKIN, BONNIE BELL, ANDREW MARTON CLAUDIA MORTIS ROCKS GENTLY in an old wooden chair in the living room of her Corydon, Ky., home, surrounded by photographs of family men in uniform. She pages through a tattered Bible, turning to its back leaves—a registry of births, marriages and deaths--and stops at one scrawled entry: "Jerry Wayne Parrish, born March 10, 1944." "He was almost like one of my own," Mortis, 74, laments of her husband's sister's son, whom she hasn't seen since 1963--the year Parrish left to serve a 13-month hitch in Korea from which he never returned. On Dec. 6, 1963, the Army maintains, Parrish defected to North Korea, one of the most secretive and totalitarian Communist regimes. And for the next three decades, his family heard nothing more of him. Then, this past January, came a terse news bulletin from the Pentagon: Jerry Parrish, now 52, is "believed to be" alive and living in North Korea. His name was released along with those of three other alleged 1960s defectors: Pfc. James Joseph Dresnok, 54, of Norfolk, Va.; Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins, 55, of Rich Square, N.C.; and Pvt. Larry A. Abshier, 52, who last lived in Normal, Ill. All four are said to be English teachers at the state's Reconnaissance Bureau Foreign Language College, a military language institute in the capital city of Pyongyang. If so, they live in a land that has been gripped by drought, starvation and political uncertainty since the 1994 death of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's ironfisted leader for nearly a half century.
[Show full text]
North Korea, Japan and the Abduction Narrative of Charles Robert Jenkins
Volume 6 | Issue 7 | Article ID 2795 | Jul 02, 2008 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus North Korea, Japan and the Abduction Narrative of Charles Robert Jenkins John Feffer North Korea, Japan and the Abduction No mainstream media outlet would touch the Narrative of Charles Robert Jenkins story. In 1996, a North Korean defector described native Japanese helping to train spies John Feffer at a North Korean facility, and the abduction narratives gained greater credibility. Still, after In the 1960s, a subculture of Americans Pyongyang launched its Taepodong became obsessed with alien abductions. Their intermediate-stage rocket over Japan in 1998, ur-narrative revolved around the experience of most Japanese simply feared North Korea’s Betty and Barney Hill, a sober, middle-aged, conventional and potentially nuclear military interracial couple who told of being taken from threat. The abduction stories belonged to the their car one night in 1961 and subjected to past. They were not confirmed. People medical investigation by extraterrestrials with disappeared for various reasons: they were small bodies and large foreheads. They were killed, they decamped for overseas, they not the type to fabulize simply to drawassumed new identities and took up residence attention to themselves, so their story attracted far from their homes. The Japanese government interest beyond the usual UFO fans. Gradually was portraying North Korea as a clear and others came forward with similar tales. present danger, and this conventional Cold War framework held sway over the more outlandish These abduction narratives paralleled the version of North Korean perfidy. central fears of the Cold War era.
[Show full text]
Strategic Points of Japan–North Korea Relations
Agnieszka Ploetzing The University of Gdańsk Strategic Points of Japan–North Korea Relations Introduction The difficult neighborhood of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (previously Korea) and Japan has been an ongoing issue in terms of regional security of Northeast Asia. The problem of Korea and Japan’s proximity has been largely affecting the Asian affairs for over a century, as neither party has been close to reconciliation. The lack of official dip- lomatic relations between the two countries, dating back to the division of the peninsula into two separate entities recognized by the international community, does not seem to ease the tension. The weight of historical claims on each side of the conflict and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s (DPRK) nuclear doctrine clashing with Japanese nonprolifer- ation and disarmament policy create a solid base for constant political stalemate. The case study attempts to draw up a sketch of the convoluted rela- tions between advanced Japanese democracy and North Korea’s “rogue regime” (Becker 2006), which is a rarely discussed matter in Polish ac- ademic works. The article determines the main obstacles for successful reconciliation of the opposite parties, basing on multiple scientific and media sources, including present Japanese press and Japanese governmen- tal data. The author focuses on the Japanese occupation of the Korean Peninsula and explores its influence on current bilateral relations. The author also outlines the rudimentary problem of abductions of Japanese citizens conducted by the North Korean intelligence, and correlates it 30 Agnieszka Ploetzing with current actions of countries’ leaders. The issue seems to be especially relevant in 2014, when the feuding parties picked up the course of dia- logue and negotiations, leaving chances for future reconciliation open.
[Show full text]
Pacific Affairs: Volume 79, No
Paciﬁc Affairs Vol. 79, No. 3 FALL 2006 —SPECIAL ISSUE— The Other Binary: Why Japan-North Korea Relations Matter Guest Editors: Linus Hagström and Marie Söderberg PAGE Introduction: Taking Japan-North Korea Relations Linus Hagström Seriously: Rationale and Background and Marie Söderberg 373 The Dogma of Japanese Insignificance: The Academic Discourse on North Korea Policy Coordination Linus Hagström 387 Tokyo’s Quandary, Beijing’s Moment in the Six-Party Talks: A Regional Multilateral Approach to Resolve the DPRK’s Nuclear Problem Kuniko Ashizawa 411 Can Japanese Foreign Aid to North Korea Create Peace and Stability? Marie Söderberg 433 The Political Economy of Japanese Sanctions towards North Korea: Domestic Coalitions and International Systemic Pressures Christopher W. Hughes 455 Vicarious Traumas: Television and Public Opinion in Japan’s North Korea Policy Hyung Gu Lynn 483 Books Reviewed (listed on pp. 369) 509 Copyright © 2006, University of British Columbia ISSN 0030-851X Publications Mail Registration No. 07775 GST No. R108161779 PRINTED IN CANADA Recycled Paper 365 Papier Recyclé Pacific Affairs: Volume 79, No. 3 – Fall 2006 ABSTRACTS The Dogma of Japanese Insignificance: The Academic Discourse on North Korea Policy Coordination Linus Hagström The message of Japanese insignificance in international affairs can be found in many different literatures, including that on the formation of policy towards North Korea in the 1990s and 2000s, in particular in regard to the recurring nuclear crisis. Books and articles on the topic either exclude Japanese foreign policy altogether or tend to emphasize the predominant role, or power, of the United States. Japanese foreign policy, it is implied, is under US control.
[Show full text]
February 9, 2016 Ms
1584 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS, Vol. 162, Pt. 2 February 9, 2016 Ms. Campbell has been focused intently on MOURNING THE LOSS AND HON- IN RECOGNITION OF OUR STELLAR improving access to legislative proceedings. ORING THE UNFORGETTABLE SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS She aided in the transition of where transcripts LIFE OF MAURICE WHITE and details of legislative proceedings could be found: from only being available through a Li- HON. PETE OLSON brary of Congress database, with a limited HON. SHEILA JACKSON LEE OF TEXAS range of users, to their availability on the inter- OF TEXAS net through the THOMAS website, which ev- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES eryone can access. Ms. Campbell’s knowl- Tuesday, February 9, 2016 Tuesday, February 9, 2016 edge was invaluable during the recent transi- tion to the more modern Congress.gov. Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, it is with Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to Ms. Campbell has been instrumental at in- a deep sadness and a heavy heart that I rise recognize the hard working School Board creasing legislative transparency and moving today to pay tribute to Maurice White, a man members of Pearland Independent School Congress into the digital age. The services who touched the hearts of millions of Ameri- District. she helped develop are invaluable to Con- cans as a founding member of the legendary gress, the public, and our democracy. The band called Earth, Wind & Fire. Our school board members of Pearland ISD in the 22nd Congressional District of Texas work of her unit, particularly on bill status in- Maurice ‘‘Reese’’ White was born on De- play a critical role in the success of our formation, has vastly increased accessibility to cember 19, 1941, in Memphis, Tennessee.
[Show full text]
Comparative Connections, Volume 6, Number 2
Pacific Forum CSIS Comparative Connections A Quarterly E-Journal on East Asian Bilateral Relations edited by Brad Glosserman Vivian Brailey Fritschi 2nd Quarter 2004 Vol. 6, No. 2 July 2004 www.csis.org/pacfor/ccejournal.html Pacific Forum CSIS Based in Honolulu, Hawaii, the Pacific Forum CSIS operates as the autonomous Asia- Pacific arm of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1975, the thrust of the Forum’s work is to help develop cooperative policies in the Asia- Pacific region through debate and analyses undertaken with the region’s leaders in the academic, government, and corporate arenas. The Forum’s programs encompass current and emerging political, security, economic/business, and oceans policy issues. It collaborates with a network of more than 30 research institutes around the Pacific Rim, drawing on Asian perspectives and disseminating its projects’ findings and recommendations to opinion leaders, governments, and publics throughout the region. An international Board of Governors guides the Pacific Forum’s work; it is chaired by Brent Scowcroft, former Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs. The Forum is funded by grants from foundations, corporations, individuals, and governments, the latter providing a small percentage of the forum’s $1.2 million annual budget. The Forum’s studies are objective and nonpartisan and it does not engage in classified or proprietary work. Comparative Connections A Quarterly E-Journal on East Asian Bilateral Relations Edited by Brad Glosserman and Vivian Brailey Fritschi Volume 6, Number 2 Second Quarter 2004 Honolulu, Hawaii July 2004 Comparative Connections A Quarterly Electronic Journal on East Asian Bilateral Relations Bilateral relationships in East Asia have long been important to regional peace and stability, but in the post-Cold War environment, these relationships have taken on a new strategic rationale as countries pursue multiple ties, beyond those with the U.S., to realize complex political, economic, and security interests.
[Show full text]
Four Decades in North Korea
Four Decades in North Korea By: Jeremy Kirk/TOKYO September 09, 2004 One cold night in 1965, Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins disappeared from a patrol in South Korea. Forty years later he has resurfaced. In his first interview since leaving North Korea, he tells the REVIEW his story. After surviving nearly four decades in North Korea and spending a month in a Tokyo hospital room, United States Army Sgt. Charles Robert Jenkins wants closure. And to get it, he's ready to tell his story. In Jenkins' first interview since taking flight from the North Korean regime in July, the alleged defector tells the REVIEW why he intends to turn himself over to the U.S. Army even though he expects to face a court martial. Jenkins reveals that he sought asylum at the Soviet embassy in Pyongyang in 1966, endured repeated beatings at the hands of another alleged American defector, and was pressured by North Korean authorities to reject a personal invitation by the Japanese prime minister to leave the country with him. And he describes how his difficult life in North Korea was lifted from misery by a love affair with a Japanese nurse who shared his hatred of the communist regime and eventually helped him and their two daughters escape. "When I got on the airplane in Indonesia coming to Japan," Jenkins says, speaking in a colloquial English that reflects his seventh-grade North Carolina education, "my intentions was to turn myself in to the military, for the simple reason I would like to put my daughters with their mother, one thing.
[Show full text]
Øystein Nilsen Øksenvåg
The historical development of the political relationship between North Korea and China and its future Øystein Nilsen Øksenvåg MA Thesis (30 credits) East Asian Studies Spring 2011 Table of Contents Abstract………………..……………………………………………………………………......I Foreword……………..………………………………………………………………………..II Thanks to………….. ..………………………………………………………………………..III 1.0 Introduction…………………………………………………………….......1 1.1 Research question………..………………………………………………………………...2 1.2 Why is this important?..........................................................................................................4 1.3 The existing research on Sino-North Korean relations………………………………….....5 2.0 Approach …………………………….…………………………….…….....7 2.1 Theoretical approach and theoretical problems…………………………………..………..7 2.2 Methodological problems and research methods.………………………………………...11 3.0 The historical relationship until 1949……………………………….…...12 3.1 From the Neolithic period to the end of the Sino-Korean tributary relations……….........12 3.2 Kim Il Sung……………………………………………………………………………….13 3.3 The Minsaengdan incident……………………………………………………………......14 3.4 Guerilla war and the founding of The Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea..………..16 4.0 The historical relationship: 1949-2000……...…….……………………..18 4.1 The Korean War………………..………………………………………………………....18 4.2 The Sino-Soviet split and the birth of ―Juche‖……………………….……………...…...19 4.3 The collapse of the communist bloc, the death of Kim Il Sung and the ―Arduous March‖…………………………………………………………………………….22 5.0 The modern relationship: 2000-2010………………………………….…25
[Show full text]
Understanding the Sino-American Juche Dilemma
THE DRAGON, THE EAGLE AND THE BELOVED DEAR LEADER: UNDERSTANDING THE SINO-AMERICAN JUCHE DILEMMA Major Jason C. Guiney JCSP 37 PCEMI 37 Master of Defence Studies Maîtrise en études de la défense Disclaimer Avertissement Opinions expressed remain those of the author and do Les opinons exprimées n’engagent que leurs auteurs et not represent Department of National Defence or ne reflètent aucunement des politiques du Ministère de Canadian Forces policy. This paper may not be used la Défense nationale ou des Forces canadiennes. Ce without written permission. papier ne peut être reproduit sans autorisation écrite. © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, as represented by the © Sa Majesté la Reine du Chef du Canada, représentée par le Minister of National Defence, 2011. ministre de la Défense nationale, 2011. 2 3 CANADIAN FORCES COLLEGE - COLLÈGE DES FORCES CANADIENNES JCSP 37 - PCEMI 37 Master of Defence Studies THE DRAGON, THE EAGLE AND THE BELOVED DEAR LEADER: UNDERSTANDING THE SINO-AMERICAN JUCHE DILEMMA By Major Jason C. Guiney, CD, BA This paper was written by a student attending La présente étude a été rédigée par un stagiaire the Canadian Forces College in fulfilment of one du Collège des Forces canadiennes pour of the requirements of the Course of Studies. satisfaire à l'une des exigences du cours. L'étude The paper is a scholastic document, and thus est un document qui se rapporte au cours et contains facts and opinions, which the author contient donc des faits et des opinions que seul alone considered appropriate and correct for l'auteur considère appropriés et convenables au the subject.
[Show full text]
NORTH KOREA CHRONOLOGY 2002 Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project Social Science Research Council
NORTH KOREA CHRONOLOGY 2002 Northeast Asia Cooperative Security Project Social Science Research Council This work carries a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. This license permits you to copy, distribute, and display this work as long as you mention and link back to the Social Science Research Council, attribute the work appropriately (including both author and title), and do not adapt the content or use it commercially. For details, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc- nd/3.0/us/. 1/?/02 ROK gives US details of HEU facility location and technology it got from North Korean defector from HEU program, according to Japanese, U.S. diplomatic sources. (Yomiuri Shimbun, ‘Defector Leaked Details of N. Korea’s N-Program,’ December 18, 2002) 1/9/02 NIE: “Most Intelligence Community agencies project that before 2015 the United States most likely will face ICBM threats from North Korea… Proliferation of ballistic missile-related technologies, materials, and expertise—especially by Russian, Chinese, and North Korean entities—has enabled emerging missile states to accelerate missile development, acquire new capabilities, and potentially develop even more capable and longer range future systems. … North Korea’s multiple-stage Taepo Dong-2, which is capable of reaching parts of theUnited States with a nuclear weapon-sized (several hundred kg) payload, may be ready for flight-testing. … The initial test likely would be conducted in a space launch configuration. … The North probably also is working on improvements to its current design. The Taepo Dong-2 in a two-stage ballistic missile configuration could deliver a several-hundred-kg payload up to 10,000 km – sufficient to strike Alaska, Hawaii, and parts of the continental United States.
[Show full text]