Welcome to North Korea
The winner of the 2001 International Emmy award for Best Documentary, Welcome to North Korea is a grotesquely surreal look at the all-too-real conditions in modern-day North Korea.
Dutch filmmaker Peter Tetteroo and his associate Raymond Feddema spent a week in and around the North Korean capital of Pyongyang -- ample time to represent the starvation and deprivation afflicting a good portion of the population, and to offset such "contemporary" imagery as cars and public facilities with the conspicuous nonuse of these trappings.
As the filmmakers reveal, the North Koreans have no opportunity to compare their existence with that of the outside world, due to the near-total cutoff of news and free transportation. The one predominant feature of this oppressed nation is manifested in the scores of statues, sculptures, and iconic paintings of North Korea's Communist dictator Kim Jong II, who has gone to great and sometimes ruthless lengths to convince his subjects that he has inherited godlike powers from his equally "divine" father, the late Kim II Sung (whose mummified body still lies in state, à la Lenin).
Were this not all too painfully true, Welcome to North Korea could easily pass as a grotesque fairy tale, out Grimm-ing anything found in Grimm. The film made its American TV debut via the Cinemax cable network on March 18, 2003.
That country has not changed since the Silla age. Seongjong was the cruelest ruler of Korea during his time, and most if not all of the leaders of Korea were just like him except the methods of death. He entertained himself by boiling those dissidents or rebels in oil or other forms of hot liquids. Todays leader in Korea is more technologically sound, and uses extremity during torture, imprisonment, information gathering, and brainwashing when it suits them. Kim Jong Un is just like his father... vile, contemptible, cruel, and without morals like he was taught to be. The only person that ever did anything right for the people was his grandfather. He provided jobs, exposed the populace to world issues... had education high on the list for children, and helped the farmlands overcome extreme adversity during drastic weather changes. When his son Kim Jong Il took office, it was all over for North Korea.
Starvation, dysentery, radical diseases, and the highest form of unemployment gripped the country once he dipped his hands into their coffer slush funds for all of the farmers, and their inheritances. Not only did he exacerbate all of the funds he kept most land titles as a kind of IOU if the farmers could not come up with the daily months end payment for land leases. Once a payment was not met, the military would step in, evict the family, and repossess everything literally tossing them out into the streets without a shirt on their backs.
Much like china does when the communist party reduces grace periods for bank loans and in turn the farmer loses everything because farmers are not allowed to own land in any part in china unless it was signed by an emperor declaring that the family would be protected. Without a signature they are beggars to an early demise. Korea holds that true as well when it comes to their own kingdom. Farmers are not allowed to own land because it is considered to be a motive against the empire if a person owns, or has more than they need. Paranoia runs rampant within the capital, people are starving, children are dying, and not one single ear inside the United Nations has taken notice.
Kim was educated in Switzerland of all places, and even then as he studied for politics he had no interest in it. Only his father was the one who convinced him that by crushing his people would he ever become rich, famous, and a so called icon for the people. Once his stranglehold took effect kim's ideals began to spring into action using all manners of ill repute against even his own uncle who was executed on kim's order because of the paranoia setting in. Yet his uncle could never be the next ruler simply because he was a military man, and had no interest in the throne.
And to top it all off, his own generals hated the fact he gave himself a ridiculous promotion to grand marshal, which is closely identical to being a chancellor. Either way kim has been still has no interest within the political body because all he wants is to look as powerful as possible creating more fear, doubt, and ultimately digging his own grave once and for all. Revolutions has been caused for less... and very soon it will be the people who fight back. Hell... even the military soldiers are beginning to defect these days.
I just returned from DPRK and a lot has changed compared to 2001. These days the buildings are painted in joyfull colors (Pyongyang and other 'tourist' cities) and there are a lot more cars and taxi's. If the country would still be in the state it was in 2001 it would have collapsed already. So in a way this relative progress is sad because it will postpone fundamental changes of this crazy system. Nowadays it is possible to run the marathon and while running through the city you are not accompanied by the usual guides (while giving high fives to the Koreans). We were able to talk and dance with the local people in the parks and on the squares of the capital. It is still highly controlled of course but it has a much relaxer feel. When we showed our travels all over the world on our Samsung high end smartphones to our guides and other people there was interest and they were clearly impressed. Sooner or later these insights in the outer world will lead to change and it will break there propagandist view of the outside world. Although this is a very interesting documentary it just touches the outer layer of the systems without giving much insight into the deeper aspects of this intriguing country. I will return to North Korea just like I visited the eastern European countries after the fall of communism!
This documentary seemed extremely biased. It was all based on the opinion and thoughts of the narrator.
Many of you simply do not know or refuse to find the truth when you state things like "where is the evidence of the cruelty of this government? I do not see it here." Or "You could compare this to America, capitalism is bad, communism is bad..."
This has nothing to do with capitalism or communism.
North Korea is run by a totalitarian government.
Of course you do not see true evidence of the harshness here.
This is filmed by tourists. Visitors.
Do you realize how brainwashed and well groomed these people are made to be? Did you not hear how it was explained that people rehearse, keep posts at museums in the offhand chance that an outsider comes in? That regular citizens of North Korea are not to speak to or even look at outsiders? Why do you think that is? Because their reactions have not been pre-approved by the government, and they do not want any outsider hearing or seeing anything they don't want them to. How about when the defector mentioned that the citizens are "In fear, always?" In the film, you see mindless, extreme obedience.
How does one get that from such a sizeable population?
How about the secretly filmed footage of individuals cooking tree bark just to keep hunger at bay?
They have to uphold an image.
This documentary is nothing but barely scratching the surface. You have heard and seen nothing of the truth of North Korea through this; you have seen the cardboard kingdom, but you have not seen the truth of what happens to its residents. The only way to ever hear the truth about North Korea is to hear it from a North Korean who managed to escape..
To get a true taste of the reality that being born and raised in North Korea really means, look up the documentary Kimjongilia.
You can find it on Netflix. It depicts life in North Korea from the perspective of individuals who escaped their prison camps. It is a series of real life accounts from North Koreans who escaped.
Prison camps are where you end up if you do not walk the walk and talk the talk in North Korea, as the individuals of this documentary were made to do for their guests.
Look I don't doubt for a second that Americans did certain wrong things during the Korean war.. It's WAR. Everybody does wrong things during a war.
You can't always believe a western point of view. Simply because we're not allowed there. And if we DO get in (like these folks or the Vice team) we only see what they want us to see. But we can't believe the North Korean point of view either because these people are allowed to know even less.
there is only one point of view that i can take very serious and THAT is the point of view of DEFECTED North Koreans. Because they lived there, WERE part of the system, got out and now see things from another point of view (from China, South Korea or, in very rare cases, a western point of view). They are the ones we need to listen to.
It is interesting to listen to Song Byeok, the ex propaganda artist now living outside the country. He continues to create in the same style, but it now criticizes and pokes fun at the Regime instead of praising it. he said a huge eye opener was when he visited the USA and the kindness and good will he felt from the people he met. Far from the anarchy and gangs he expected, he encountered a warm and friendly and happy place. He talks about it a bit in various articles and on his facebook page. He was especially impressed with freedom of expression. As am I. I don't live in the USA and my country doesn't have total freedom of expression. (Though i, and many people i know, protest this by exercising our right to it anyway :D) and I think this freedom must have been very overwhelming to him.
He's quite an interesting and lovely person.
its not that hard to believe people there are so willing to believe the stories they are fed when they are cut off from any conflicting ideas. russell's teapot and all that...
The syntax in this documentary is extremely biased and blinkered. It takes away from what could be a decent docu, but using words such as "the Koreans are marched into the museum" is flagrant. They probably walked normally into the museum but the vocabulary used by the narrator implies more. There are many more examples like this, meaning it is difficult to take the docu seriously
Pity the don't have Oil USA would be in there in no time, and no doubt find another dictator to run the place.
at the 16 30 min the refugee from Nk tells us in the interview he worked for the propaganda and was ordered to go 40 km outside the city and than the commentator says that he had to make an effort to fin the petrol with some help from his colegues...i mean the mean propaganda machine didnt had gasoline ??
no doubt that the gov of N K dose some terrible things , but i think the american one (and others) did a lot more(we all know about the multi-wars fought all over the world ) and did not even had the excuses that these pour people do ( i mean the lack of land ,electricity and trading)
so i guess if we compare the worst of each it might be a photo finish
"A lie cannot live."~Martin L. King, Jr.
It’s was truly fascinated, this video is like movie from another planet, no doubt about it. Very sad. I lived in communist regime and I truly know what it is about. But do you know what is really sad? Once in the future if this regime will collapse, I do believe that nothing will happen to these communist leaders, they will quickly adapt to the new situation (they have money, friends somewhere…) The same happened after the World War II after Nazi Germany collapsed (many Good Arian Germans, members of party, simply moved to Brazil and another countries), the same happened in the East Europe when communism collapsed (after the 1989), communist ideologists are now successful capitalists managers, their rosy life goes on. Believe me! Really sad.
All people have to feel guilty because nobody`s doing something to save the poor people of North Korea : Even God has to be ashamed about what is going on in lots places on Earth . Slaves are all around the planet but North Korea is on the first place .
For the ignorant, our media can be as good as any dictatorship for the misleading of the public's insight. Having friends from around the globe, understand you're blessed to be an American (I believe the same...) But take the time to understand both sides of international stories and come to your own conclusion. I have friends in/from China, Egypt, Germany, UK, Kenya, South Africa, Mexico, Laos, etc and you can ask any of them about the same story and I guarantee you they all tell you something along a pro or anti line depending on the countries it effect and makes appear bad... Make up your own mind by knowing the reality of your own country and those you may disagree with. Most importantly stay open minded... Really interested to see how they all respond to the passing of the "dictator"/"dear leader" Kim!
I love the amount of bias this has and how many Americans and others swallow it whole. Obviously Korea was in the toilet for nearly a decade after the head of the whole system had collapsed. After the official end of Communist Russia in 1991, all countries that once depended on trade with USSR experienced a huge economic setback. Same happened with Cuba and China.
What is shown in North Korea is what could potentially be the situation of the whole world if the U.S or the E.U economies collapse. Just look what have a few economic hiccups have done to the whole global economy dependant on the U.S. You people live in a fairy tale, too unhooked from the reality that could potentially blast you in the face and make you realise that misery is not as far away as you think it may be.
I seriously cannot believe people exist in a world like this. How terrible for these poor people! America has it's fair share of problems...but after watching this, I am still extremely grateful to be an American!!
"Toy" please go back to school and learn how to spell.
Great promo. Can't wait to visit. Time to cancel that trip to Hawaii.
This is truly fascinating. I really love learning about this country, it is so alien and reflective of a different time. By no means is this good, it's sad to see people so isolated, repressed and poor...all while thinking their leader is a God. But, there has to be some macabre desire to witness such a strange land, no where else in the world is like this.
The socialization is so powerful, there doesn't even need to be police stationed everywhere to convince people they are being watched. Or, people don't have to be forced to go to the shrine (although I'm sure if they walk past it, they know someone is watching them, so they must). I honestly think these people genuinely think of their leader as an infallible superhuman.
On a side note, I did laugh when she referred to Americans as Yankees. Imagine if you went to an American museum and the tour guide called the Vietnamese "gooks" or the Germans "krauts." I would laugh out of how awkward the situation would be...
wait did he say hatred against america.. humiliate captured enemys?
America: hate "terrorist" (witch can be any country) and wait didnt we see some naked arabs in USA militery base.. wtf? something spooky going on here.. How can "democrecy" (aka kapitalism aka terrorism) be soo alike communism?
communism is just another word for dictatorship
George Orwell's 1984 in real-time and real-life
N.Korea reminds me the game BIOSHOCK..."Im Andrew Ryan and i am ur leader!"...RAPTURE: Isolated city, paranoia, strict rules and an a**hole as a leader....
A lot of what we know about the country is western fabrication. The only real problem I see with the country is the leadership... genuine totalitarian rule. Now I'm not against authoritarianism but its extremes are never good (unless you find a really really good ruler). But as for the economy, its probably the most leftist if you ask me.
I've seen other videos about N Korea. It is always so surreal as to how big of a deal the so called tour guides make of what would just be everyday things in other parts of the world. Who cares about an adjustable desk? A tape recorder with a translation for a 1985 computer manual is also pretty insignificant.