Kimjongilia - Doc Talk

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Doc Talk is a Documentary Channel original series.

North Korea is one of the world's most isolated nations. For sixty years, North Koreans have been governed by a totalitarian regime that controls all information entering and leaving the country. A cult of personality surrounds its two recent leaders: first, Kim Il Sung, and now his son, Kim Jong Il. For Kim Jong Il's 46th birthday, a hybrid red begonia named kimjongilia was created, symbolizing wisdom, love, justice, and peace. The film draws its name from the rarefied flower and reveals the extraordinary stories told by survivors of North Korea's vast prison camps, of devastating famine, and of every kind of repression. All of the interviews featured took place in South Korea, where the defectors now live. Their experiences are interspersed with archival footage of North Korean propaganda films and original scenes that illuminate the contours of daily life for a people whose every action is monitored and whose every thought could bring official retribution. Along with the survivors' stories, Kimjongilia examines the mass illusion possible under totalitarianism and the human rights abuses required to maintain that illusion. Ultimately, the defectors are inspiring, for despite the extremes they have suffered, they still hold out hope for a better future.

• Category

  News & Politics

[Martin Andrew]

I think this is entirely the wrong message to be sending. It turns the victims in to objects of a propaganda and, soon, military conflict which will destroy Korea's culture and heritage and replace it with the plastic facsimile of the suicidal south. Kim Jong Il can't be blamed for the collapse of the USSR and the end of its aid. Kim Jong Un will surely restore the honor of Korea and reunify the nation once and for all.