Yodok Stories. A review.

Father, don't just go to South Korea! Father, come to Yodok too!

• My girlfriend beautifully danced and sang ever since childhood. She dreamed of musical career. Her father was accused of espionage, all his family was sent to Yodok. My girlfriend was raped frequently and starved to death in the camp. My parents were killed because I escaped. 
• You cannot sympathise with the inmates. If you take pity on them you will be punished just like they are. 
• When I was in Yodok I looked at other people as animals. Imagined them as boars or pigs so I could eat them. Outside the camp I met two people that ate others. One man grabbed the girl on the street, skinned her and ate her. 
• I was Kim Jong Il's personal bodyguard for 10 years. He treated us well, we did not miss anything. After 10 years I was released from the army and came back to my village. Nothing changed there, nothing changed for 10 years. I could see holes in the floor and people around me were dying of hunger. I escaped to China but was caught and this is how I ended up in Yodok. 
• I was sentenced for the camp because I was a friend of Kim Jong Il's wife. I knew too much of his actions. 
• Only picture of South Korea we see are homeless people and beggars on the streets. When I ended up at Incheon airport I could not believe I was there. I saw people were smiling at me. 

Can you imagine you can make a musical on these stories? Nightmare, starvation, rape, humiliation, death? And yet there was a musical made about the stories mentioned above and during preparations to the musical, a documentary called Yodok Stories was done by established documentary maker Andrzej Fidyk.

Fidyk’s film alternates between rehearsal sessions and testimonies by other former prisoners that flesh out the harrowing, invisible reality of camp life. 7 stories show former inmates and their memories from the camp. Life in the camp is shown on the stage and former prisoners teach actors everything about what they had gone through.

Everyone could end life in Yodok camp. Former Kim Jong Il's family friend, former personal guard, a person that said remark about scarcity of food, or even someone who did not put the Dear Leader image on the wall. 

Yodok Concentration Camp is oficially known as a Penalty Colony number 15. The only one from which few prisoners could get out after serving their sentence.  From others, Fidyk says in first minutes of the movie, noone goes out unless escaping. 

Group of defectors who took part in preparations to the musical combine several inmates, but also a guard. He says stories on how he was taught about class enemies and that inmates were evil people in his eyes and how he took pleasure in harassing them until his own father one day had few drinks too many and critisized the regime for food shortages. It was enough for the entire family to end up in the camp. 

Guards escape also because they can take no longer. They are forbidden showing human feelings, forbidden normal human reactions, they are taught hatred round the clock. 

They met in the restaurant in Seoul, all of them who defected and took part in the movie. Former inmates and former guard. Their talks reveal horrible stories but serve as reconciliation. 

The guard is later shown during preparations and try-outs between the musical as he teaches about life in the camp and beating methods. He is portrayed crying secretly when he watches the show. 

The rest of the movie is a must watch for everyone. Fidyk is a masterpiece maker. Music is great, idea of the musical made success both to the defected artist who directed it and to Fidyk who did not worry much for the music part of his movie, he used scores from the musical for most of it.. 

North Korean regime lasts because it is isolated. But also because South Korea is not happy about perspective of having 20 million starving people knowing nothing about modern life or economy becoming citizens. Hardly anyone in the South knows anything about what happens in the North.

 

The Hermit Kingdom

Kim Jong-un, the heir-apparent and son of Kim Jong-il, issued his first military order just before the announcement of his father's death this week, which some sources claim is the proof of young Kim's control over the military. 

Photo by AP

 
The North's state media reported Kim Jong-il's death Monday, two days after it occurred.  Before the the news of passing was announced, Kim Jong-un ordered all military units to stop field exercises and training and return to their bases.

"This is a direct example showing Kim Jong-un's complete control over the military," the source said, adding the move also indicated that the younger Kim is poised to become the top commander of the North's 1.1 million-strong military.

And so on... 


Above paragraphs are based on newest Korea Times articles about prospective difficulties of Kim Jung Un to seize power. Literally everyone around the world expects it. 


If I was to guess and make a bet, I bet there won't be bigger problem with power transfer than it usually is in any hereditary system with several wings of power. Normally parents of the heir have to buy loyalty of those who could try to destroy their plans. If the loyalty cannot be bought with priviledges, then opponents have to be removed anyhow else. 


Such game is ahead of Kim Jung Un. My bet is there is already a dynasty of Kims in an Hermit Kingdom. 


If nothing surprising happens this will just go on. Unless there is a military coup d'etat and the military modernizes country. But I would not bet on it.

And what do you think?

Kim Jong-Il Dies- what comes next

Kim Jong-Il died of a heart attack on December 17th  while travelling on the train. For two days, North Korea rulers kept this information secret from the state news agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Trade. Today, the news of the death of Dear Leader went around the whole world and made global breaking news.

 
Apart from the usual diplomatic messages expressing grief towards North Korea, the White House responded immediately to a message declaring that it is ready to support South Korea against potential changes in the situation on the Korean peninsula. President of South Korea raised the threat level of a cyber attack to Grade 3, the highest. South Korean authorities may, in fact, fear of attacks on their networks and servers, because this year several of them happened. The most serious attack occurred in July 2011, when hackers paralyzed SK Communications, a South Korean telecom company. The North korea was accused of attack which Pyeongyang never acknowledged.
Lee Myeong-bak also contacted the White House indicating his readiness to take all necessary steps required in that situation.

Tthe financial markets reacted immediately to the death of Kim Jong-il. South Korea's Kospi index initially fell by 4.1 percent, but then regained a bit of loss and early morning, the decrease was 3.1 percent. Japanese Nikkei has lost 1 percent. and reached 8,314.44 points. According to Victor Cha from Center of Strategic and International Studies this is a reaction similar to the stock market declines in 1994 after the death of former North Korean dictator Kim Il-Sung.

Global speculations began about the transfer of power in North Korea. Some analysts expect turbulence and potential conflict between several wings of power in North Korea, including a military coup. Director of the Institute of International Relations, Yonsei University, Professor Lee Chung-Min claims we do not yet know all the answers to many questions. Seizure of power by Kim Jung-Un who was promoted to be the next leader by deceased Kim Jong-il depends on whether he will cope with the hardline generals who are willing to use the situation to take over strings in Pyeongyang. Before Kim Jung-Un will be able to implement any of his own ideas in North Korean politics he has to consolidate power and convince the reluctant ones.

South Koreans, who are closest to all events, react calmly. There is no widespread panic, no one collects goods in case of crisis. As I wrote earlier crisis in relations with North Korea occurs so often that South Koreans are accustomed to it., even if it is the death of the leader of North Korea. Lee Yong Jun, a young engineer from Suwon says it's too early to predict what will happen - It can lead to conflict for power, as hardliners are able to use a young age of Kim Jung-Un against him. But any discussion and figuring out is in my opinion, premature. None of the analysts really knows what will happen and their panic can only reflect on our wallets more than the potential movements of North Korea. - Yong Jun highlights.

This confirms the reaction of the Ministry of Defence, which remains calm and says that there is no compelling reason to raise the DEFCON alert of South Korean armed forces. Anti North Korean surveillance alert had also not been raised. South Korean President Lee Myeong-bak canceled all his meetings and called up an extraordinary summit designed to establish rules of conduct in the situation, however pressing the need for reason and calm. 


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Ironically we can guess whether this was a good or not good gift for President Lee-Myeong-bak's birthday which is exactly today. Photo: REUTERS