A Kim Jong-Il Production

by Paul Fischer

  In the last few weeks of reviewing edits on this book, I met a South Korean who told me that he had worked for U.S. intelligence agencies for twenty-six years, and been mostly assigned with debriefing North Korean defectors. (An independent background check confirmed this.) One of his assignments, in 1986, concerned the escape and defection of Shin Sang-Ok and Choi Eun-Hee. The man says he met Shin and Choi professionally then, after which he remained friends with both of them. Although he is now retired, his employment contract with the United States government stipulates he cannot speak on the record about matters still considered “sensitive.” But when I asked him if Shin and Choi’s version of the tale was true, his answer was categorical: “Yes,” he said.

  “Every single detail?”

  He nodded emphatically. “Yes!”

  Until North Korea opens to the world and Kim Jong-Il’s own personal papers—if they still exist, if they ever existed in that form—can be pored over and dissected, it’s impossible for anyone to know, with 100 percent certainty, what happened. Until then, I am strongly inclined to take what Shin and Choi say as truthful.

  Acknowledgments

  This book wouldn’t exist without the faith and enthusiasm of Patrick Walsh and Carrie Plitt at Conville & Walsh, who took on a writer’s ambitious first book with unwavering insight, intelligence, and support. And I am grateful for the guidance of my editors, Colin Dickerman (Flatiron Books), Panio Gianopoulos, and Joel Rickett (Viking Penguin), who worked together tirelessly to turn hundreds and hundreds of pages of excited words into a book.

  My deepest thanks to Alexandra McNicoll, Henna Silvennoinen, Jake Smith-Bosanquet, Alexander Cochran, and Emma Finn, and all at Conville & Walsh, for sharing the book with the world; to my researchers and translators J-Min Anh, Hiroko Yabuki, and Soyoung Park; to Jung-Hyoun Han for being my interpreter when I finally met Madame Choi in person; to Liz Keenan, Jasmine Faustino, Patricia Cave, and Marlena Bittner at Flatiron Books, Venetia Butterfield at Viking Penguin, Sophie Berlin at Flammarion, and Nick Marston at Curtis Brown for their relentless enthusiasm, encouragement, and support. To Jurgen, Nadia, Markus, and Michael Fischer, thank you for always pushing me to do the best I can—and for celebrating every small success as if it were your own, the way only family can do.

  I am indebted to the many writers and researchers, all smarter and better read than I am, who generously shared their knowledge and resources with me. Chief among them are Charles Armstrong, Robert Boynton, Mike Breen, John Cha, Steven Chung, Heinz Fenkl, Mike Morris, Darcy Paquet, Johannes Schonherr, and Suk Young-Kim. Yoichi Shimada and Tsutomu Nishioka at the National Association for the Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea confirmed details and facts related to the DPRK’s use of kidnapping.

  In Korea I was extremely fortunate to have the help and guidance of Sue and Jackie Yang, who negotiated and interpreted for me and generally made me look and feel competent and at home in a foreign land. Miyoun Ko selflessly took a full day to show me around Seoul and discuss modern Korea with me. In Vienna I had the generous help of John Edmaier, Christine Gull, Jean-Paul Herzog, Nicole Huber, Thomas Legner, and Rico de Schepper. When learning about 1970s Hong Kong I was lucky to be able to rely on Donald Morrison, James Smith, Douglas Schwab, and Nicholas Wu. Christopher Green of the DailyNK spoke to me on a range of subjects linked to North Korea and the rise of Kim Jong-Il as well as the highly politicized context in South Korea related to the North. He and the DailyNK, a courageous online resource in the releasing and disseminating of information about the Kim regime, were also instrumental in introducing me to North Korean defectors who had worked in the film industry or had some knowledge of the events and people involved in this book. Many of these defectors—the ordinary people, those who did not have a public profile or position of influence in Pyongyang, and who as such cannot write books, catch headlines, or warrant the expense of public protection—are reluctant to be named, but I am forever in their debt for their time, openness, and courage. Helen Loveridge gave me vital information on the 1984 London Film Festival. Brian Bankston, Wes Gehring, and Michele Jaffa shed light on various points, major and minor, of Shin and Choi’s personal accounts. For her strength and honesty, I thank Angie Everhart.

  My assistant Annie Ross-Edwards figured out what the weather was in Pyongyang in February 1978, tracked down North Korean freighters, and kept my life in order while I locked myself in a room and wrote. Marie-Jeanne Berger, Walter Donohue, Paul French, Andrew Lang, Ruth Little, Wayne and Lindsey Pelechytik, Jodie Taylor, and Joseph Wobij read various drafts of the book, and I am blessed for their unwavering enthusiasm and positivity. Gary Forrester read the first several drafts of the book and encouraged me every step of the way. For always encouraging and believing in me over the years, I thank Mary Kerr, Michael and Jane Lothian, Clare Kerr and Nick Hurd, and the Kerrs of Ferniehirst, as they will always be to me: Marie-Claire, Ralph, Johnnie, Jamie, Frank, Amabel, Hugh, and Minna. Marie Madeleine Veillard, my favorite primary school teacher, told me when I was still a very small child that she knew I would write a book one day, so to her—voilà!

  I am, of course, indebted to the indomitable Madame Choi Eun-Hee for her willingness to have her life scrutinized by a stranger from halfway across the world, and for her help, her endurance, and her passion. She was always generous with time and with information, and courageous with putting her life on display, yet again, to a world that has not always treated her openness kindly.

  And last but very definitely not least, from every bit of me, my thanks to Kelty and Owen Pelechytik. This whole thing started huddled in a pub in winter with you two, was written with you, and wouldn’t have happened without you. I love you both.

  Selected Bibliography

  BOOKS

  Anderson, Joseph L., and Donald Richie. The Japanese Film: Art and Industry. Expanded edition. Princeton University Press, 1982.

  Breen, Michael. Kim Jong-Il: North Korea’s Dear Leader. John Wiley & Sons, 2004.

  Bren, Frank, and Law Kar. Hong Kong Cinema: A Cross-Cultural View. Scarecrow Press, 2004.

  Bowyer, Justin, and Jinhee Choi. The Cinema of Japan and Korea. Wallflower Press, 2004.

  Buzo, Adrian. The Guerilla Dynasty: Politics and Leadership in North Korea. Westview Press, 1999.

  Cha, John H., with K. J. Sohn. Exit Emperor Kim Jong-Il: Notes from His Former Mentor. Abbott Press, 2012.

  Cha, Victor. The Impossible State: North Korea, Past and Future. Vintage, 2013.

  Cho Gab-Je. Transcript of Kim Jong-Il’s North Korea. Jogapje Datkeom, 2010.

  Choi Eun-Hee. Confessions. Random House Korea, 2007.

  ———. Walks and Works of Sheen Sang-Ok, the Mogul of Korean Film. Lee Jang-Ho, 2009.

  Chung Hye Seung. Hollywood Asian: Philip Ahn and the Politics of Cross-Ethnic Performance. Temple University Press, 2006.

  Chung, Steven. Split Screen Korea: Shin Sang-Ok and Postwar Cinema. University of Minnesota Press, 2014.

  Cleaver, Eldridge. Soul on Fire. Word Books, 1978.

  Coatalem, Jean-Luc. Nouilles froides à Pyongyang. Editions Grasset, 2013.

  Cumings, Bruce. North Korea: Another Country. The New Press, 2004.

  ———. Korea’s Place in the Sun: A Modern History. W. W. Norton, 2005.

  Delisle, Guy. Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea. L’Association, 2003.

  Demick, Barbara. Nothing to Envy: Real Lives in North Korea. Granta Books, 2010.

  Freeman, Kevin. Secret Weapon: How Economic Terrorism Brought Down the U.S. Stock Market and Why It Can Happen Again. Regnery Publishing, 2012.

  French, Paul. North Korea: State of Paranoia. Zed Books, 2014.

  Fujimoto, Kenji. I Was Kim Jong-Il’s Chef. Fusosha Publishing, 2003.

  ———. Kim’s Chef, Kim’s Private Life. Fusosha Publishing, 2004.

  Gehring, Wes. Robert Wise: Shadowlands. Indiana Historical Society, 2012.

  Harrold, Michael. Comrades and Strangers: Behind the Closed Doors of North Korea. John Wiley & Son
s, 2004.

  Hassig, Ralph. The Hidden People of North Korea: Everyday Life in the Hermit Kingdom. Rowman & Littlefield, 2009.

  Hastings, Max. The Korean War. Revised edition. Pan Macmillan, 2010.

  Jager, Sheila Miyoshi. Brothers At War: The Unending Conflict in Korea. Profile Books, 2013.

  Jang Jin-Sung. Dear Leader: North Korea’s Senior Propagandist Exposes Shocking Truths Behind the Regime. Rider, 2014.

  Jenkins, Charles Robert, with Jim Frederick. The Reluctant Communist. University of California Press, 2008.

  Kang Hyok. This Is Paradise! My North Korean Childhood. Little, Brown, 2005.

  Kim Byung-Kook and Ezra F. Vogel, eds. The Park Chung Hee Era: The Transformation of South Korea. Harvard University Press, 2011.

  Kim Il-Sung. With the Century. Korean Friendship Association, 2003 edition.

  Kim Jong-Il. On the Art of the Cinema. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1973.

  Kim Suk-Young. Illusive Utopia: Theater, Film, and Everyday Performance in North Korea. University of Michigan Press, 2010.

  Kinnia, Yau Shuk-Ting, ed. East Asian Cinema and Cultural Heritage. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.

  Kracht, Christian, with Eva Munz and Lukas Nikol. The Ministry of Truth: Kim Jong-Il’s North Korea. Feral House, 2007.

  Kurosawa, Akira. Something Like an Autobiography. Vintage Books, 1982.

  Kwon, Heonik, and Byung-Ho Chung. North Korea: Beyond Charismatic Politics. Rowman & Littlefield, 2012.

  Lankov, Andrei. The Dawn of Modern Korea. EunHaeng NaMu, 2007.

  Lankov, Andrei. North of the DMZ. McFarland & Company, 2007.

  Lee Young-Il and Young-Chol Choe. The History of Korean Cinema. Jimoondang International, 1998.

  Lifton, Robert Jay. Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism. W. W. Norton, 1961.

  Lim Jae-Cheon. Kim Jong-Il’s Leadership of North Korea. Routledge, 2011.

  Martin, Bradley K. Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty. Thomas Dunne Books/St. Martin’s Press, 2004.

  McHugh, Kathleen, and Nancy Abelman, eds. South Korean Golden Age Melodrama. Wayne State University Press, 2005.

  Myers, B. R. The Cleanest Race. Melville House, 2011.

  Ning Tie. How Long Is Forever? Shanghai Press, 2010.

  Oberdorfer, Don. The Two Koreas: A Contemporary History. Basic Books, 2001.

  Oh Kongdan and Ralph C. Hassig. North Korea Through the Looking Glass. Brookings Institution Press, 2000.

  Oshima, Nagisa. Ecrits 1956–1978. Cahiers du Cinema/Gallimard, 1980.

  Pulikovsky, Konstantin. The Oriental Express: Across Russia with Kim Jong-Il. Moscow, 2002.

  Satsuma, Kenpachiro. North Korea as Seen by Godzilla. Nesco-Bungeishunju, 1994.

  Schonherr, Johannes. North Korean Cinema: A History. McFarland & Company, 2012.

  Shin Sang-Ok. I Was a Film. Random House Korea, 2007.

  Shin Sang-Ok and Choi Eun-Hee. The Kingdom of Kim Jong-Il. Tonga Ilbosa, 1988.

  ———. My Name is Kim Jong-Il. Haengnim Chulpan, 1994.

  ———. We Haven’t Escaped Yet. Wolgan Chosonsa, 2001.

  Steiner-Gashi, Ingrid, and Dardan Gashi. Im Dienst des Diktators, Leben und Flucht wines nordkoreanischen Agenten. Verlag Carl Ueberreuter, 2010.

  Suh Dae-Sook. Kim Il-Sung: The North Korean Leader. Columbia University Press, 1988.

  Sung Hye-Rang. Wisteria House: The Autobiography of Sung Hye-Rang. Chisiknara, 2000.

  Urwand, Ben. The Collaboration: Hollywood’s Pact with Hitler. Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 2013.

  Wright, Lawrence. Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief. Alfred A. Knopf, 2013.

  Yi Hyo-In. Korean Film Directors: Shin Sang-Ok. Korean Film Council/Seoul Selection, 2008.

  Yi Sun-Kyung. Inside the Hermit Kingdom. Key Porter Books, 1997.

  Zbarsky, Ilya, and Samuel Hutchinson. Lenin’s Embalmers. Harvill Press, 1998.

  OFFICIAL NORTH KOREAN PUBLICATIONS

  Great Man and Cinema. Korea Film Export & Import Corporation.

  The Great Man Kim Jong-Il. Two volumes. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House.

  Kim Jong-Il Biography. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House.

  Kim Jong-Il: A Brief History. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House.

  Kim Jong-Il: Short Biography. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House.

  Kim Jong-Il: The People’s Leader. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House.

  Kim Jong-Il. On the Art of the Cinema. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House.

  Kim Jong-Suk: The Anti-Japanese Heroine. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House.

  The Leader Kim Jong-Il. Pyongyang Foreign Languages Publishing House.

  SELECTED PERIODICALS, BROADCASTS, AND WEB SITES

  (By date of publication)

  Oberdorfer, Don. “Kidnapped by North Korea’s Premier Film Buff.” The Washington Post, May 15, 1986.

  Oberdorfer, Don. “Escapees Describe Top North Korean Leaders.” The Washington Post, June 14, 1986.

  Oberdorfer, Don. “North Korea Accused of Kidnapping Women.” The Washington Post, January 24, 1988.

  Kang, K. Connie. “Kim Is No Madman, Kidnapped Pair Say.” Los Angeles Times, July 25, 1994.

  Gombeaud, Adrien. “A Conversation with Shin Sang-Ok.” www.koreanfilm.org/shinsangokk.html December 2000.

  Armstrong, Charles. “The Origins of North Korean Cinema: Art and Propaganda in the Democratic People’s Republic.” Acta Koreana 5, No. 1 (2002).

  Cho, Ines. “The Reel Story,” Korea Joogang Daily, January 18, 2002.

  Stephens, Chuck. “Pleasure and Pain.” The Village Voice, February 26, 2002.

  Kher, Unmesh. “Accounted For, at Last.” Time, October 3, 2002.

  Thomson, Mike. “Kidnapped by North Korea.” BBC Today, BBC Radio 4, March 5, 2003.

  Gorenfeld, John. “The Dictator Who Snagged Me.” www.salon.com/2003/03/12/shin/, March 12, 2003.

  Gorenfeld, John. “The Producer from Hell.” The Guardian, April 4, 2003.

  Spillius, Alex. “The Dictator’s Cut.” South China Morning Post Magazine, April 13, 2003.

  Lee, Adriana. “Secret Lives.” Time, June 23, 2003.

  “Correspondent: The Real Dr. Evil.” Broadcast on BBC radio 2, July 20, 2003.

  “Correspondent: Inside the Mind of Kim Jong-Il.” Broadcast on BBC radio 2, July 21, 2003.

  “North Korean Cinema Ready for Its Close-Up.” Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2003.

  Becker, Jasper. “North Korea: At Home with the Kims.” Asia Times, October 11, 2003.

  Montefiore, Simon Sebag. “Why Stalin Loved Movies and Wanted John Wayne Shot.” The Daily Telegraph, June 4, 2004.

  Lankov, Andrei. “The Dear Director.” North Korean Economy Watch (blog), February 8, 2005, www.nkeconwatch.com/2005/08/02/the-dear-director/.

  Sohn, Kwang-Jop. “Kim Jong-Il’s Birth and Growth.” DailyNK, February 11, 2005, www.dailynk.com/english/keys/2003/12/04.php.

  Choi, Jin-I. “Unrevealed Story of Kim Jong-Suk, Mother of Kim Jong-Il.” DailyNK, February 25, 2005, www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk01300&num=67.

  Lankov, Andrei. “Body Snatching, North Korean Style.” Asia Times, February 26, 2005.

  Han, Young-Jin. “Kim Jong-Il, Where He Sleeps and Where He Works.” DailyNK, March 15, 2005, www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?cataId=nk02300&num=83.

  Martin, Douglas. “Shin Sang-Ok, 80, Korean Film Director Abducted by Dictator, Is Dead.” The New York Times, April 13, 2006.

  Bergan, Ronald. “Shin Sang-Ok” (obituary). The Guardian, April 19, 2006.

  Rayns, Tony. “Shin Sang-Ok—Maverick Film-maker” (obituary). The Independent, May 3, 2006.

  Francis, David. “So That’s Why Kim Jong-Il Is So Happy…” Foreign Policy Passport, October 5, 2007, http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2007/10/05/so_thats_why_kim_jong_il_is_so_happy.

  Kyodo News, “Police Quiz S. Korean
Actress over Abductees to the North.” March 12, 2008.

  “Les captives étrangères de la Corée du Nord.” Le Figaro, April 21, 2008.

  “Kim Jong-Il Has Plenty of Villas to Recuperate In.” The Chosun Ilbo, November 4, 2008.

  Olsen, Kelly. “North Korea’s Secret: Room 39.” Salt Lake Tribune, June 11, 2009.

  Harden, Blaine. “Global Insurance Fraud by North Korea Outlined.” The Washington Post, June 18, 2009.

  Rose, David. “North Korea’s Dollar Store.” Vanity Fair, August 5, 2009.

  “The Torrid Romantic Life of Kim Jong-Il.” The Chosun Ilbo, August 8, 2009.

  Samuels, Richard J. “Kidnapping Politics in East Asia.” Journal of East Asian Studies 10, No. 3 (2010).

  Herskovitz, Jon, and Christine Kim. “A North Korean Life Shattered by Kim Jong-Il’s Secret.” Reuters, February 3, 2010, http://in.reuters.com/article/2010/02/03/us-korea-north-secret-idINTRE6120WJ20100203.

  The Associated Press, “North Korea Fires Head of Secret Bureau ‘Room 39.’” February 4, 2010, www.ctvnews.ca/north-korea-fires-head-of-secret-bureau-room-39-1.480672.

  Glionna, John. “Kim Jong Il’s Guard Set Himself Free.” Los Angeles Times, February 20, 2011.

  Boynton, Robert. “North Korea’s Digital Underground.” The Atlantic, February 24, 2011.

  Ocken, Jessica Royer. “Kim Jong-Il, the Director He Kidnapped, and the Awful Godzilla Film They Made Together.” Mental Floss, December 18, 2011.

  Glionna, John. “North Korean Defector Says Kim Jong-Il Stole Her Life.” Los Angeles Times, December 22, 2011.

  Rank, Michael. “North Korean Secrets Lie Six Feet Under.” Asia Times, February 18, 2012.

  Greitens, Sheena Chestnut. “A North Korean Corleone.” The New York Times, March 3, 2012.

  Ingersoll, Geoffrey, and Adam Taylor. “North Korea Allegedly Forces Diplomats to Deal Drugs for Hard Cash.” Business Insider, March 22, 2012, www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-allegedly-turns-foreign-diplomats-into-big-time-drug-dealers-2013-3.

  Brady, Lisa. “How Wildlife Is Thriving in the Korean Peninsula’s Demilitarised Zone.” The Guardian, April 13, 2012.