Written by: Bella Theodorou
South Korean producer Shin Sang-ok and actress Choi Eun-hee announced at a conference held in Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1984 they had been voluntarily working with the North Korean government to produce films. Given their mysterious disappearance six years prior, the international audience was skeptical of how “voluntary” this job had been, especially considering North Korea’s notorious history of kidnapping. It wasn’t until the couple managed to escape the country in 1986 that the full narrative of their captivity was revealed.
Kim Jong-Il was on a mission to advance the film industry. The problem was that North Korean film producers had little expertise and creative freedom. Given this, Kim had his sights on foreign producers, including Shin Sang-ok. The plan began with the kidnapping of his ex-wife, Choi Eun-hee, in January 1978. Shin was kidnapped six months later while searching for Choi. The couple were kept separate and unaware of each other while in captivity. Two unsuccessful escape attempts additionally put Shin in a reeducation camp for over two brutal years. However, Kim was still in need of the producer’s skills, and Shin was released.
In 1983, the couple reunited, remarried, and began working on films. Kim desired to make innovative and entertaining films that would impress the foreign audience. To achieve this, he gave Shin the liberty to produce and direct his films, though all of them were to be approved by Kim. His most popular work was Pulgasari, similar to Godzilla. Though the foreign audience had interpreted the Pulgasari monster to resemble Kim Il Sung, his son, Kim Jong-Il, was very pleased with the production. Kim believed the monster in the story resembled the greed and corruption of capitalist nations.
During Shin and Choi’s years of captivity, they left the country a few times on trips involving film production. The few trips abroad had given them the hope of freedom, but as Shin had experienced first-hand, the consequences of failed escape attempts were harsh. However, an opportunity to escape finally arose in 1986 when the couple was sent to Vienna, Austria, for a meeting. While in a taxicab, free of bodyguards, the couple managed to leave and find the American embassy. From then, they were able to live in the United States and later moved back to South Korea.
The escape humiliated North Korea. In an attempt to mask their failure, the North Korean press denied all allegations and declared the couple to have stolen money meant for film production, but the foreign media was not convinced by their deceit. Today, movies, documentaries, and books have been produced and published to bring Shin and Choi’s story to the public.
Bibliography
Gorenfeld, John. 2003. “Kidnapped by Kim Jong-Il: The Man Who Directed the Socialist Godzilla.” The Guardian. April 4, 2003. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/apr/04/artsfeatures1.
“Rumors Reappear with South Korean Couple.” The New York Times, March 23, 1986. https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/23/world/rumors-reappear-with-south-korean-couple.html.
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