The crying game…

Below are three video’s recently posted on YouTube which portray North Korea’s national mourning in 1994 when Kim Il Sung passed away.  Although we do not know what people really think of the deceased leader, we do know that the public displays of sadness and eternal loyalty were scripted for television (and probably planned out in advance): Large crowds were mobilized at politically symbolic locations throughout the country, people were lined up in formations, given black arm bands, and placed in front of well-positioned television cameras to make sure they gave their best performances (which were strangely identical). 

The cameramen were also composed enough to carry out their tasks: Not only would they have to be dispatchted from Pyogyang to record the mass sadness, but they would have to arrive early to the scene, plan out their shots, record each scene several times, conduct multiple interviews, travel back to Pyongyang, and finally edit the footage into the final product.  This would all take a fair amount of time because travel conditions between the different locations would have been less than stellar.

Click on the images below to see the three part video:

Part 1. crying.bmp 

Part 2. crying2.JPG

Part 3. crying3.JPG

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