Kim Jong Il: a film director who ran a country
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Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures,
Polish Academy of Sciences
Publication date: 2015-06-30
JoMS 2015;25(2):155-166
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ABSTRACT
The considered text aims at explaining the passion of the former
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (1942-2011) for cinema. Th e paper will
proceed in three steps: Explaining the Cinema Passion of Kim Jong Il,
outlining its realizations in North Korea. Th e third party will focus on the
kidnapping of Choi Seun Hee and Shin Sang Ok. Kim Jong Il wanted that
all fi lms were made according to the North Korean ideology for which he
was responsible. Starting from the mid 1970’s, Kim Jong Il implemented
cinema in his strategical polical approach through some of the political
departments of the Korea Workers’ Party. North Korean movies were supposed
to strengthen and legitimate the power of the Kim family and the
image of North Korea abroad. As far as media were under the control of
the state organization Kim Jong Il was a director, a producer, even a costume
maker, a screenwriter, cameraman, a sound engineer and he was
also seen as a fi lm theorist. What has to be enlighten is the fact that until
the his death, Kim Jong Il was affected by cinema.