Shin Sang-Ok was a famous South Korean film director married to actress, Choi Eun-hee. Together, they established Shin Film and made many films through the 1960's which garnered recognition for South Korea at various film festivals. ^[1] In 1978 Choi was abducted and taken to North Korea to meet Kim Jung-Il. ^[2] Six months later, Shin was abducted. After three years in prison, Shin was united with Choi and the two were instructed by Kim Jung-Il to make films for him in his hopes of gaining global recognition to North Korea's film industry. ^[3] After making many films for Kim Jung-Il, in 1986, Choi and Shin escaped from North Korean supervision to a US embassy while in Vienna. ^[4]

Kim Jung-Il joined the Propaganda and Agitation Department in 1966 and soon became director of the Motion Picture and Arts Division. ^[5] He was a big fan of films with a library of 15,000 at his disposal. As director he reached the public with films and operas homogenous in theme: pride for the nation and specifically Kim Il-sung. Charles K. Armstrong writes in his book Tyranny of the Weak: North Korea and the World 1950-1992, “Kim took North Korean arts in a direction that seemed specifically designed to ensure his father’s favor: under his guidance, new films and operas focused as never before on the anti-Japanese struggle of Kim Il Sung and his comrades in Manchuria during the 1930’s”. ^[6]

Kim Jong-il was frustrated with his films in the early 1970’s. He could tell that in contrast to the other films being released globally, his were stiff and lifeless. His diagnosis was a lack of enthusiasm from his actors and crew. Bradley K. Martin, author of Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader: North Korea and the Kim Dynasty, explains this while quoting a 1983 tape recording of Kim: “The difference, he suggested, was that North Korean film industry people knew that the state would feed them even if they performed only minimally, so they didn’t try hard... ‘Because they have to earn money,’ Kim said, Southern movie industry people expended blood, sweat, and tears to get results.” ^[7]

He needed fresh and passionate voices that would advance North Korean cinema. In the grand scale of Kim Jong-il’s plan, further excerpts from the recording went as follows: “If we continually show Western films on television, show them without restraint, then only nihilistic thoughts can come about... ...all those things, patriotism, patriotism –we have to increase this, but we only make them idolize Western things... So we must advance the technology before opening... Eh, thus, because of this, I want to give rights to a limited degree.” ^[8]

Actress Choi Eun-Hee was abducted in Hong Kong when she was propositioned to direct a film and possibly run a performing academy in a Hong Kong school. ^[9] she was taken from Repulse Bay and arrived in Nampo Harbor, North Korea on January 22 1978. She was housed in a luxury villa called Building Number 1. ^[10] She toured the city and was shown Pyongyang as well as Kim Il-Sung's birthplace among landmarks and museums ^[11] She was given a tutor who instructed her on the life and achievements of Kim Il-Sung. Kim Jong-Il took her to movies, operas, musicals, and parties. He asked her opinion on various films and respected her perspective. It was five years before she knew that she had been kidnapped as bait for Shin. ^[12]

After Choi disappeared, Shin Sang-Ok began searching for her. They had been divorced and Shin had another family at that time. Shin had also been struggling with the South Korean government because his Shin Studio's South Korean Film License had been revoked. He had been traveling the world searching for one of his films to be greenlit so he could acquire a resident visa. Six months after Choi's capture, Shin was in Hong Kong and was captured as well. ^[13] He also was given lavish accommodations but wasn't told what happened to Choi. After two escape attempts, he was sent to prison for his disobedience. On February 23 1983, Shin received a letter saying he was to be released from jail. March 7th 1983 Shin and Choi were reunited at a party hosted by Kim Jong-Il. ^[14]

Shin and Choi were shown the Dear Leader's vast personal film library. He had collected over 15,000 films from around the world. The couple were instructed to watch and critique four films per day. Mainly the films were from the communist bloc but there were also the occasional Hollywood films. Shin and Choi had respect for Kim's film knowledge and perspective. Eventually Kim shared how he wanted Shin to direct a film and enter it into an international contest. Shin would have an office at Choson Film Studios in Pyongyang. ^[15] Kim was aware that the internal propaganda slant of his films so far might not appeal to an international audience and garner spots in international contests so he allowed Shin to broaden the subject material and select themes that would be more accepted abroad. ^[16] Shin began work on October 20, 1983 with unlimited funds at his disposal. Shin and Choi won an award for one of their films at a festival in Czechoslovakia. The final and most expensive film that they made together with Kim Jong-Il was called Puglasari and it was heavily influenced by the recently popular Godzilla films.

1. An Emissary of No Return (Doraoji annun milsa): Made in 1984. Based on a stage play called Bloody Conference written by Great Leader Kim Il-Sung. In the film, Ri Jun, a Korean emissary at the Second The Hague International Peace Conference in 1907 tries to convince the international community to help reverse Ito Hirobumi – drawn Japanese-Korean Protective Treaty of 1905 which left Korea under Japanese leadership. Ri Jun delivers a speech at the conference and when he doesn't win support from the Western powers, he commits hara-kiri in front of the diplomats. Shin shot sections of the film in Czechoslovakia and used european actors. ^[17]

2. Love, Love, My Love (Sarang sarang nae sarang): Made in 1984. A take on the ancient Korean tale, The Tale of Chun-hyang. The film was shot as a musical and featured a first in North Korean cinema, a slightly veiled kiss between the two leading actors. Chun-hyan falls in love with Mong-ryong a wealthy aristocrat but he must leave to the capital to train to be a government official. While he is gone, a new governor takes over the province and falls for Chun-hyan. When rejected, he imprisons her. Just before she is about to be executed, Mong-ryong returns to save her. ^[18]

3. Runaway (Talchulgi): Made in 1984. A story set in the 1920's in the Japanese colonial period. Protagonist, Song-ryul and his wife (played by Choi Un-hee) live in poverty. The family moves to the Kando area of Manchuria looking for a better life, but their suffering persists. Song-ryul joins the ranks of the Kim Il-sung group and once he is with the guerilla, he blows up a Japanese army train. ^[19]

4. Salt (Sogum): Made in 1985. A story set in Kando in the 1930's. In the film, Choi Un-hee plays Song-ryul’s wife. The family hides a wealthy Korean-Chinese merchant and the father is killed in a fight between the Japanese police and the Chinese bandits. She believes that her husband died because of the Communists. Then Choi Un-hee in poverty asks for the Korean-Chinese merchant's help and he rapes her. After a series of tragedies, a neighbor tells her about a lucrative illegal business: smuggling salt. While she is smuggling salt, the group she is with is attacked by the Japanese and a Communist group saves her. She discovers that the communists were actually the ones helping the people and she sets out to join the Communists. Choi Un-hee won best actress at the Moscow Film Festival for this role. ^[20]

5. The Tale of Shim Chong (Sincheongjeon): Made in 1985. Shin directed a musical version of this classic tale of filial piety. Shim Chong lives with her blind father. She sacrifices herself so that he can cure his blindness and is taken by merchant sailors. They toss her overboard and she goes down to the palace of the God of the Sea. She is put back on land inside of a giant floating orchid. She is found by the king and they fall in love and are married. In the end, Shim Chong is reunited with her father and he is healed of his blindness. ^[21]

6. Pulgasari: Made in 1985. This film was heavily influenced by the popular Godzilla films at the time. It is about the farmers’ uprising in medieval Korea. A little girl pricks her finger while sewing and when the blood falls on a little dragon toy made out of rice, it comes to life as a monster. It fights for the farmers and smashes the emperor's palace. When the monster accidentally eats the girl, he explodes. ^[22]

To create a case for themselves, should they ever escape North Korea, Choi and Shin decided to sneak in a tape recorder to their conversations with Kim Jong-Il so they would have proof that they didn't willingly leave the South. In one recorded conversation on October 19, 1983, Kim spoke openly about his plot to kidnap Shin and Choi to upgrade North Korea's film industry. He told Shin and Choi that it would be best if they spoke to the press saying they came to North Korea voluntarily. Shin and Choi attended a press conference in on April 12, 1984 in Belgrade, Yugoslavia where they said they were in North Korea by their own choosing.

After finishing that Pulgasari, the two were in talks with Kim about another film when they took a trip to Vienna in 1986. The New York Times posted an article on March 23 1986 announcing how the couple got away from their North Korean caretakers and sought political asylum in the US embassy. Following their escape, Shin lived in the United States for many years working in the film industry before returning home to South Korea. After their escape, North Korea issued a statement denying the claims that Shin and Choi had been kidnapped and instead maintained that the Shin and Choi had voluntarily defected and left with a large amount of North Korean money. ^[23]

The success of South Korean cinema in the broader world propelled Kim Jung-Il to enter the competition and vie for recognition at international film festivals. Already, North Korea had created numerous operas and propaganda films. The competition with South Korea was a driving force in many areas. Two years after Shin Sang-Ok and Choi Un-hee escaped, Seoul hosted the Seoul Summer Olympics in 1988. ^[24]In an effort to retaliate, in 1989 North Korea hosted a similar global athletic competition called the World Festival of Youth and Students of which there were 22,000 attendees from around the globe.

After the release of Paul Fischer's book, A Kim Jong-Il Production, in 2015, the abduction of Shin Sang-Ok and Choi Un-hee has piqued the interest of the modern age. Vanity Fair documented a recent screening of Pulgasari in Brooklyn New York in April of 2015. ^[25] The Washington Post suspects a film will be made telling the story. ^[26]