Film « North Korean Economy Watch

Archive for the ‘Film’ Category

Lim Dong Won book published

Thursday, June 12th, 2008

Today, the Daily NK publishes a review of Peacemaker: South-North Relations and the North Korean Nuclear Issue over the past 20 years, by Lim Dong Won, “evangelist of the Sunshine Policy” and former director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service.

The book (not available in English) publicizes dialogues between Kim Jong Il and the author when he visited Pyongyang for the first Inter-Korea Summit in 2000 and as a South Korean delegate in 2002.

Actually, the Daily NK’s article is not so much a review of the book as it is a series of interesting excerpts:

[Kim Jong il speaking] Joint Security Areais a good movie. I showed it to the generals of the military and cadres of the Party.’ All of sudden, [KJI] asked [the] general of the People’s Army Lee Myung Su and secretary Kim Yong Soon how many series of a South Korean historical drama, “Petticoat Government” they had watched. [KJI] said that ‘South Korea produces historical dramas well. I’ve instructed the Director of the Propaganda Department of the Party to learn the South Korean way of making historical dramas.’

Lim Dong Won also revealed that at the Inter-Korea Summit in 2000, Kim Jong Il agreed with Kim Dae Jung’s comment, “Even after the unification, the U.S. military presence in South Korea will be needed.” The former president Kim asked him “Why are you insisting through your media on the withdrawal of the U.S. military from the South?” and Kim Jong Il replied to him that he wanted President Kim to understand it was just to soothe the peoples’ feeling.

When Lim asked Kim Jong Il to visit Seoul in April of 2002, Kim Jong Il said that “In fact, I tried to visit Seoul in the spring of 2001, but the situation was changed due to George Bush, who looked on us as an enemy, being elected President of the U.S. Furthermore, the situation of the South was such that the leftists demanded that the North apologize to them for the Korean War and the explosion of KAL, and my visiting Seoul would have deteriorated the relations between the North and the South. Therefore, my close associates held me back from going to the South.”

According to his book, Lim revealed that a hot line has been set up since the first Inter-Korea Summit in 2000 and has been used when crises happened between the South and the North. In June, 2002, when a battle occurred in the West Sea, the North sent an urgent telephone-notice, saying “I heard with regret that it happened accidently.”

Read the full story here:
Veiled Dialogues with Kim Jong Il Revealed
Daily NK
6/12/2008

Posted in Communications, Film, Inter-Korean summit, Political economy, Telephones | Comments Closed

A School Girl’s Diary at NKIDP

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

I just returned home from a screening of the North Korean film, A School Girl’s Diary (ASGD), hosted by James Person at the North Korean International Documentation Project (NKIDP) and Suk-Young Kim from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Although times have changed significantly in North Korea since the famed Sea of Blood was released, the purpose of the cinematic arts within the North Korean system has not. In short, film in the DPRK is meant to be regime enhancing—reinforcing official social and political norms. What is interesting about ASGD compared with previous North Korean films, however, is the muted use of propaganda and tacit admission that things are not perfect in the Workers Paradise. Is it possible the change in communications tactics is the result of changing attitudes within North Korean society?

Sea of Blood is as subtle as a pulp comic. It offers action, intense feelings, flat characters (clear protagonist/antagonist), and a simple “us vs. them” plot line. In the film, Koreans are the victims of brutal Japanese imperialism and Kim il Sung is the savior who delivers them from oppression. At the time Sea of Blood was released, however, the first generation of revolutionaries was in control of the country, memories of Japanese colonialism were fresh, and people were more enthusiastic about their country’s future.

Today, the North Korean government is struggling to indoctrinate its “third generation (3G).” The 3Gs have no memories of Japanese colonialism or of the Korean War. Children, who have likely never met an American, do not hate the “American Imperialists” like their parents and grandparents. 3Gs have seen many state institutions collapse; they have seen the social contract broken; they have seen economic decline; and they have survived a famine. Additionally, they have grown up buying and selling in markets and are more familiar with South Korean and Chinese culture than their parents could have imagined at their age.

Given these huge demographic changes, it seems probable that the style of ASGD represents the regime’s most recent efforts to socialize this new generation of comrades. A School Girl’s Diary makes only one explicit reference to the leader and portrays life as less than ideal. After sixty years of revolutionary struggle, people fight with each other, express their egos, and feel jealousy. In short, the film portrays characters, locations, and motivations that many contemporary North Koreans could probably identify with. As was noted in the discussion following the film, Mickey Mouse made a cameo on a backpack (likely imported from China and bought at a market), there was a veiled reference to sex, or lack thereof, and the star of the film complained about her absentee father (the metaphorical Kim Jong il).

You can read a professional review of the film in Variety here.

You can read academic discussion of the film here. (h/t Werner Koidl)

Posted in Art, Civil society, Film | 4 Comments »

Logistics of filming in North Korea

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

My friend Paul at Knife Tricks recently interviewed the producers of Crossing the Line about the logistics of filming in the DPRK. Here are some excerpts:

Gordon and his crew brought their own equipment to North Korea because local film technology was not compatible with the needs of a modern documentary shoot. “As far as equipment goes, they film on 35mm, and we were filming on DigiBeta for the first two films and hi-def video for Crossing the Line,” says Gordon.

“I used standard Canon lenses,” notes Bennett. “When I needed to light, I used Kino Flos, but much of the film was shot with available light.” Gordon adds, “In North Korea, the electricity isn’t necessarily on, and when it’s on, it isn’t necessarily constant, so we tried to use available light wherever we could.” He carried batteries at all times and hooked into mains when possible.

In addition to Gordon, Bennett, soundman Stevie Haywood and co-producer Nicholas Bonner, the crew included one or two North Koreans assigned to the shoot by the Ministry of Culture. Gordon notes, “Your immediate suspicion is that they’re government plants — security people pretending to be film people. But the longer you work with people, you tend to find out what they are and what they’re not, and the people we worked with day by day were absolutely film people.”

“They basically took it upon themselves that they were going to work for us and get us the access that we wanted, whatever that took and whatever personal risks that took on their part,” he continues. “Had it all gone wrong, there would have been quite nasty consequences for everyone involved.”

The filmmaking process involved many nights of discussions with the North Koreans about access or other issues concerning the next day’s shooting. The topics to be discussed with Dresnok were provided to the North Koreans in advance, with the understanding that new topics would arise over the course of the interview. The minders occasionally reviewed the dailies. “There was never an occasion when they said, ‘No, you can’t shoot that,’” Bennett recalls. “There were lots of occasions where they’d hem and haw as to whether they wanted us to film something, and we shot it, and they had a look at it afterwards and said, ‘Yeah, it’s fine.’ You’re not always aware of what they’re looking for.”

“No footage was ever taken away from us,” adds Bennett. “We came away with everything we shot.”

The North Koreans had no hand in the edit, either. Gordon says the final cut was not shown to North Korean officials until after it was screened at the Busan Film Festival in South Korea.

Read the full article here:
Documentary filmmakers are granted rare access to shoot a project that provides glimpses of life in the closed-off society.
American Cinematographer
Paul Karl Lukacs
March 2008

Posted in Film, Ministry of Culture | Comments Closed

Film Screening: “The Schoolgirl’s Diary” (2006)

Monday, April 7th, 2008

(NKeconWatch: “I hope to see you there”)

April 09 2008, 4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
6th Floor Auditorium
Woodrow Wilson Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza
1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20004

Learn more and REGISTER here.

The Schoolgirl’s Diary (Han Nyeohaksaengeui Ilgi-2006, in Korean–no subtitles) is the story of a self-absorbed North Korean teenager, Soo-Ryeon, who yearns to move to an apartment from her home in the countryside and questions the values of her father and mother; a scientist and a librarian at the academy of sciences who put the good of the nation before that of their family. Soo-Ryeon realizes how selfish she is only after her mother falls ill and her father makes a major breakthrough in his research. The film’s screenwriters reportedly received guidance in drafting the script from North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

Following the screening: Suk-Young Kim will discuss the film and offer comments. Suk-Young Kim is assistant professor of theater and dance at the University of California at Santa Barbara and an expert on North Korean propaganda. She is currently completing a book project titled Illusive Utopia: Theater, Film, and Everyday Performance in North Korea, which explores how state produced propaganda performances intersect with everyday life practice in North Korea. Another book project, Long Road Home: A Testimony of a North Korean Camp Survivor (coauthored with Kim Yong) is forthcoming from Columbia University Press.

Sponsored by: North Korean International Documentation Project

Posted in Art, Civil society, Film | 1 Comment »

North Koreans are people too.

Friday, April 4th, 2008

The Daily NK reports that demand for South Korean pornography among Northerners is on the increase:

The demand for X-rated movies among North Korea’s high cadres is so great that a single VCD sells for 50 US dollars.

The latest publication of Good Friends, a North Korea-related aid organization, tells the story of Mr. Park, a resident of Hyesan, Yangkang Province. Mr. Park was arrested for making copies of South Korean adult movies–called “colored movies” in North Korea–and selling them in Pyongyang. Despite the high price per VCD, the publication notes that supplies are getting tight.

“Mr. Park bought the CDs near the North Korean- Chinese border from China. Then he would make his friend in Pyonsung, South Pyongan Province copy them and to sell them to traders in Pyongyang,” reported the publication.

The fact that there is a demand for pornography in the DPRK is not surprising (I have met several North Koreans who have seen it more than once) but the price reported in the story seems unusually high.

Read the full story here:
Pyongyang Cadres Want South Korean Adult Movies
Daily NK
Park In Ho
4/4/2008

Posted in Civil society, Domestic publication, Film | Comments Closed

Haeju receives South Korean broadcasts

Friday, February 22nd, 2008

How pervasive is the flow of outside information in North Korea? Typically stories in the media answer this question as though geography is the determinate variable: Cities near the Chinese border are the most influenced by heterodox ideas (since cell phones, clear television signals, and smuggling have been commonplace for years), and cities in the south (along the DMZ) are the most isolated (aside from Kaesong). North Korea’s internal travel restrictions prevent foreign ideas from spreading. This view was recently repeated by Andrei Lankov.

“The Kaesong exception” is thought to be correlated to the growth of the the Kaesong Industrial Zone. The theory goes that the thousands of North Koreans who are employed in Kaesong (who work in South Korean facilities for South Korean managers) pick up bits of outside information at the margin and share it with their friends and family back home. It is not an unreasonable theory.

A new story in the Daily NK, however, presents evidence which points to ideological contamination on a nationwide scale (irrespective of geography). The story claims that the city of Haeju is not only thoroughly exposed to South Korean radio and television – it is a production hub of a pirate video market:

“We can receive the TV broadcast of KBS (Korean Broadcasting System) and SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System) fine in Haeju. Sometimes, we can watch MBC (Moonhwa Broadcasting Corporation) as well. I watched Dae Jo Yong (a popular TV drama from KBS) on TV. However, I wanted to watch it again, so I bought a CD and watched it several more time.” He said, “We can get copies of South Korean TV programs from China. However, a great number of copies are also produced in Haeju.”

In a nod to communist efficiency, the subject interviewed in the Daily NK story even claims that in Haeju it is easier to pick up South Korean television signals than those from North Korea!

With a “manufacturing” facility in Haeju, black market DVDs or VCDs can be copied and distributed throughout the south east even if security is tighter along the Chinese border. Additionally, these DVDs/VCDs would be cheaper and more widely distributed because they are produced locally (as opposed to using Chinese labor/capital) and will require fewer middlemen to get them across the border and into the hands of consumers. If this has been going on for some time, then it is safe to assume that most urban centers from Haeju to Pyongyang have regular access to South Korean media!

Of course a decline in acceptance of the state ideology means the government must rely on external controls (rather than an individual’s self-control) to maintain the system. The good news is that external controls can be avoided through technolgy, corruption, or both:

“In the border areas with China and South Korea such as Hwanghae and Kangwon Province, the North Korean authorities try to prevent people from watching S. Korean TV by soldering and pre-tuning TV sets to Chonsun (North Korea) Central TV. Lately, the authorities also attempt to restrict the usage of remote control by covering the sensor with silver paper.

However, North Korean people circumvent the regulation. Instead of giving away their remote control to the authorities, they purchase an extra and watch the TV as they please after removing the silver paper. After all, the authorities’ efforts to control TV channels turn out to be futile for those who have remote control TV sets.

The full article can be found here:
North Korean People Copy South Korean TV Drama for Trade
Daily NK
Lee Sung Jin
2/22/2008

Posted in Black markets, Civil society, Communications, Economic reform, Film, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), Mt. Kumgang Tourist Special Zone, Television | 4 Comments »

“Crossing the Line” now out on DVD

Saturday, February 16th, 2008

The third film by Dan Gordon and Nick Bonner is now out on DVD.

The film’s official web site is here.

Order the film on Amazon.com here.

Nick and Dan, what’s next?

Posted in Civil society, Film | 2 Comments »

Reporters Without Borders 2008 Report

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

The Reporters Without Borders 2008 Annual Report has been published. It is not an index (with rankings assigned to each country) but rather a survey that groups nations into one of five quintiles based on the publisher’s perceptions of press freedom: (1. Good situation, 2. Satisfactory situation, 3. Noticeable problems, 4. Difficult situation, 5. Very noticeable problems.

If you read the report (here), it is mostly a qualitative analysis and there does not seem to be any objective methodology for grouping countries into a particular quintile. (Disclaimer: I have note read the whole thing, but usually the methodology is spelled out in its own section for these types of publications, but I have not been able to find it). This worries me because if there is no standard methodology, with relative weights, then the results are vulnerable to questions of subjectivity.

North korea is ranked a “Very Noticeable Problem.” To read just the North Korea section of the report click: rwb-dprk.pdf.

Posted in Black markets, Cell phones, Civil society, Communications, Domestic publication, Film, Music, Radio, Telephones, Television | Comments Closed

Pyongyang launches a cultural wave

Tuesday, January 29th, 2008

Joong Ang Daily
1/29/2008

While dragging its feet again on its pledge to denuclearize, North Korea is expanding its cultural outreach to the West.

The move is drawing a mixed response from North Korea watchers. Some hail it as a prelude to a long-awaited opening of the isolated nation, recalling China’s “ping-pong diplomacy” that served as a catalyst for a thaw in its relations with the United States in the 1970s.

Others, however, caution against expecting too much, citing the communist nation’s track record of using arts for propaganda.

Regardless, Pyongyang looks set to provide a rare chance for Europeans to see its elite orchestra perform.

The North’s State Symphony Orchestra is scheduled to hold performances in London and Middlesbrough in September in what would be its largest-ever shows abroad, according to Radio Free Asia. The concerts will be telecast live, added the U.S.-government funded station.

The orchestra is said to have been nurtured by the North’s all-powerful leader Kim Jong-il, reportedly a big fan of film, music and other arts.

In the North’s latest cultural diplomatic activity, five North Korean movies were screened over the weekend in San Diego, California during the first inter-Korean film festival organized by a university in the United States. North Korean authorities selected the films. Pyongyang’s No. 2 two diplomat in the North’s United Nations mission, Kim Myong-gil, attended the event after receiving U.S. government approval. Members of North Korea’s UN mission are required to stay within a small radius of New York and need Washington’s approval for trips outside the city.

The film festival came two weeks after a North Korean movie, titled “Schoolgirl’s Diary,” was screened in Paris. It marked the first-ever commercial distribution of a North Korean movie in the West.

One of the most awaited shows in coming weeks is a concert by the New York Philharmonic in Pyongyang. During the performance, the orchestra will perform the U.S. and North Korean national anthems as well as classical music. The historic concert, backed by the U.S. State Department, will be broadcast live via satellite on Feb. 26.

“This journey is a manifestation of the power of music to unite people,” said Zarin Mehta, the orchestra’s executive director, reiterating remarks he made last month.

Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington’s point man on Pyongyang, said earlier the performance bodes well for their bilateral relationship.

“We haven’t even had ping-pong diplomacy with these people,” he said. “It would signal that North Korea is beginning to come out of its shell, which everyone understands is a long-term process. It does represent a shift in how they view us.”

Hill expressed hope that the cultural exchange will help resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis.

Many experts here agree cultural diplomacy can be an effective way of dealing with the North. They view the North’s move as reflecting its cultural pride and determination to break its isolation. “It also appears to be aimed at diluting the North’s negative image as a repressive nation and silencing criticism from hard-line U.S. officials,” said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

But skepticism lingers with the nuclear crisis still unresolved.

“Even if the orchestra plays music from heaven, it will have nothing to do with most North Koreans outside of the venue,” said Joo Sung-ha, who defected from North Korea in 2001 and now works as a journalist in Seoul. “We need to think about for whom such one-time shows should continue.”

Posted in Art, Film, Music, USA | Comments Closed

Porno Became Widespread in `90s, Thanks to the Dear Leader

Sunday, December 23rd, 2007

Daily NK
Moon Sung Hwee
12/23/2007

Excerpt:

Porno became prevalent in late 1990s, first among party officials and it leaked out to the public. Nude or bikini-worn women dance in North Korean porno with music.

Such indigenous videos disappear as foreign-made porno being imported. The first consumers, and the largest now, are high-ranking officials of the party and army.

It costs 2000 North Korea won (approx. USD 1 =3,200 North Korean Wown) to rent a porno CD for an hour in North Korea. Even middle school students collect money to rent one.

Posted in Art, Civil society, Dating/Courting, Film, International trade, Political economy | Comments Closed

North Korean Economy Watch