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. (Excerpt from All Movie Guide)
Watch the full documentary now
Every time I see something about North Korea it is so sad. I watched a video of a Doctor who went there and was removing cataracts from peoples eyes, and these patients were giving praise to kim jong il for letting them see again, and all they wanted to see was portraits of him. If starvation doesn’t kill everyone in the country before they are finally freed, the culture shock aftermath will more then likely give everyone heart attacks. Funny how this goes on in our world, would it still be happening if North Korea was full of oil? I doubt it.
Yeh good point if oil was there would probably be a crusade to free the ‘poor inhumanely brainwashed’ people of that country.
“The great leader invented the adjustable desk”…that was nice of him…who cares about food when you have adjustable desks..and when you get tired of the desk, you can go to the museum and look at the great leader’s mercedes…
Too bad they won’t see this in North Korea. Those poor people need a heavy dose of reality. Then again, it probably wouldn’t do them much good because they’re all malnourished. Kim Jong Il is my least favorite person in the world.(frowny face)
but they have atomic weapons and the support of china. this makes a invasion difficult.
thats the irony of the iraq war. if they really had had weapons of mass destruction they wouldnt have been invaded.
so i think iran learnt something from the iraq war.
i just wonder, why do people freak out when they see a different culture? criticizes what they do, how they dress, etc. and all of the sudden is about freedom and Invasion. WHY?
Oppressing people and forcing them to worship you is not a culture.
i was talking about humans in general or most of us, I’m too romantic some times. about north Korea, i hope they don’t follow the same road as Germany did with Hitler.
Yeah humans in general are uncomfortable with foreign cultures. And I don’t think Kim Jong Il could pull off a Hitler. Hitler had several advantages:
1) He didn’t starve all his people. You can’t fight a war if most of your population is too weak to carry weapons.
2) No one really stepped up to fight him at first. Everyone just hoped he would stop with Austria.
3) He was more intimidating. Kim is just a little man with a bad haircut. The rest of the world laughs at him.
North Korea have done well to qualify for the FIFA World Cup 2010, but Kim Jong Il wont show the people of North Korea any footage of the World Cup unless the win it outright.
If by some miracle they did win, he would probably take credit for that aswell.
I think it is sad that any culture hold another to its own values and expectations. Maybe the views of other cultures seem extreme or unrealistic to us but who are we to judge? In our society of seeking the newest cell phone, video game, soft drink or pair of tennis shoes, how can we demonize other people who hold other things to the highest of values?
Brian, what does culture have to do with it? If you are a communist and like genocide then just say it.
This documentary was one of the reasons I went to North Korea (twice) and I am going back again. You can paint the DPRK in any number of ways and the filmmakers here decided which way to go. Without understanding Korean Culture, Koreans or the Koryo past, all of this looks like a zombie state. How would you sell a documentary that showed the DPRK favorably?
Bowing to the leader? Giving thanks to leadership? All foreign to us but in Korea this is normal. Do not confuse culture with politics.
Were North Korea some kingdom with a deceased king and ruled by a prince whom the people worship you would think it quaint. Communism, the Cold War and the Korean War all stigmatize the DPRK. Go there, listen to what they say and ask questions.
Do not drink the Kool Aid of what people are telling you. There is some truth here but there are some falsehoods. Question everything. I can tell you some really bad things about the DPRK but I can do that about some religious cults and other societies. The Korean people in the north are warm, generous and curious about the outside. Today we can intermingle more with the people than years ago.
The DPRK is Korean – very Korean. It is Confucian, isolated and very defensive of their culture and identity. The place has little to do with Communism and more to do with the Koryo past. They are not ******. They are also aware that they face an uncertain future. This all may seem strange but try to figure out why they are thinking this way.
your right about hero worship in Korea, volodya. The question is, have the Kim’s done the things that get other GREAT Koreans worshiped? No. People like Chung in the South have done wonders for their people and civilization, and in the context of Korean culture it is not perverse to have a small personality cult. The Kim’s have done nothing for there own people except lead them down a path of backwardness towards there own oblivian, and then they build massive monuments to their own image.
I’m an American who is very anti military industrial complex, but I believe that when North Korea is joined to South under democratic government, it would be of greater benefit than a war of unification would be of detriment.
Reunification by absorption. This academic m****, wants to compare Germany with Korea. Of course there is no comparison, a third world country with a first world country, that being Germany, that has as its assets the greatest inventions of the 20th century. What the f##k have these Koreans ever invented?? Chop sticks?? Maybe he refers that the rich country has to give all its wealth to the poor country, and by the way, why don’t we all turn commies, that would do the world a ton of good.
That academic ***** is so brainwashed into the welfare state, that he believes that south Korea has to give all north commies a house, a car, free food for life. etc. All that Kim EL Sucks cant provide. Communism does not work, but they keep beating a dead horse. They say that if you keep repeating an action expecting a different result, then you do not belong with humankind, try dog world.
Comparing Germany to Korea. If this guy ever went to Germany, he would never go back to that rat hole even to visit.
roy, you just wrote an awful lot without saying anything. your a narrowminded racist. but hey, what do i know?
I’ve also watched the documentary of national geographic about the doctor removing cataracts from patients and worse even children are afflicted with it.Very sad to know that at most third world country like mine(Philippines)many are also with cataracts but most definitely those of the older generations.Really very sad even the hospitals are so decrepit that they use bottles for IV’s. Why do these people worship Kim Jong Il so much?He hasn’t even done good to them only for his lavish lifestyle of consuming Henessy!
I’ve been living under comunism and this films about Korea are like time travel to me….You people are wondering why they worship Kim, why they obey, bla bla bla….Well..they don’t..It’s because the majority don’t know Nothing about what we now consider normal and decent life. It’s a general inertia, a mix of fear and absence of hope. You see children and people chearing with flowers drawing kim faces with theyre bodies….crazy stuff like this. Well, I was one of this bodies, they took me from school to practice doing that..it’s nothing about worship it’s like xmass, it’s a custom. If 1 never lived such insane times will never understand….Even for me it’s hard to understand the cowerdness of my parrents that live allmost all theyre lives in such abominal conditions…”the culture shock aftermath will more then likely give everyone heart attacks” well…any of the survivors will flee, became emigrants, coruption, organized crime, prostitution will flourish. They’ll have to live all human history of past 100 years in just 10. But they will be incredible refreshing blood for art, science…In 10 years after comunism they will hardly belive the past times…Human race is funny this way…The thing with …hm 1 can say this for all the nations that suffered… irish, algerians, aborigens, tibetans….a hurting planet. I agree. But we also learn something: if we realy are interested we can operate change. impose it even. This planet, this race have the resurces to fix ALL the problems in a matter of months. In one part of the world we trow away tons of food from oversaturatedhumongoussupermarkets in another part flyes are siting on the eye oh the rahitic child. Profit now rules…uh, and Roy is ugly. hehe.
long live north Korea and Kim jong il
sad!
@roy the d*mb
south korean invented samsung, hundai, panasonic, and MMORPG conscept.. its more electronicly base than any country exept japan(that included germany).. also east germany is a 3rd world country also before the unification. that why their commi goverment immidiatly collapse after russia stop backing it..
this movie is full of lies/ the trouth is that the north koreans heave a superior life style and all thouse images are maked just for propaganda/ who serves to the imperialist south government interests/ every country have poverness do you think that in south korea all the people are rich or have a nice decent life?
They (the north Koreons) are rite. Kimg Sung is great!! A great big piece of ****!! These people are so oppressed that if you speak your mind are put into a re-education camp filled with all kinds of fun activities, such as torture, brainwashing, etc. And the ones they cant re-educate are forced to have small stones put in thier mouths then have thier brains blown out down by the river. So to our good friend Brian the culture hippie that supports communism why dont you go and live ther if you think its so great. Hell maybe you can spread peace, love and happiness throughout the land. Hope and change??
Soon they will look to the sky and see this beautifull flash of yellow and red light. A nuke from the south.
Cant wait for kin jank to die. I will be celebrating with lafter and beer. It will be a wonderfull day for all!!
@ Gogu
That’s laughable. Do you really think the American people are that ******. We see with our own eyes what North Korea is like starving people, horrible health care, no civil rights, and some spoiled pathetic child playing dictator. Sounds like a great vacation spot to me. I can’t believe people go thier, when you are sitting in a cell don’t wonder why.
Why is everyone saying Brian is a commi just because he says others have a right to different values and opinions than we have. He is right, we should not hold other countries up to a standard that we set and do not live up to our selves. I am certainly not defending North Korea’s politics, read the above post. But culture is a whole different story. Culture is built from the general concensus of a population and therefore can not be imposed on anyone who doesn’t want it. Saying that the North Koreans have a right to decide thier own priorities and values is correct in my opinion. By the way when someone defends another countries rights to choose, well that is about a far from communist as you can get. Maybe you guys that are throwing the word around should look it up and understand what a communist is before you start making accusations. Brian I am sure you are not a communist or you would not be so open minded and quick to let others set thier own standards.
Oh yeah, Roy must be from Texas because his post has red neck written all over it in big bright lettering. He is one of those people that when you are stating something you think to be dishonest about America they say, “Hey, if you don’t like it you can just get the hell out.” then they spit a big old wad a backer and mosy off feeling sexy- and all the educated people laugh like hell, as soon as the big old red neck is out of ear shot of course.
Communist Newsflash! Unfortunately the North Koreans will not be able to read this, but reports in the UK say that in N.Korea the people have been told that they beat Brazil in the world cup. They lost in case you didn’t see the game. Also 4 of the players that took part in the game have gone missing!! communist newsflash!
I’m sure the little korean boy starving to death in the concentration camp appreaciates all of this “cultural sensitivity”. While he’s eating tree bark and clay.
hello from romania!i m gogu the communist commarade. i just wanna say that in romania recently the communist party has reestablish himmself as a alternative to the desaster that we have lived during manny years thanks to the democracy that you and you`re kapitalist countryes love so much.who is responsable for the world economical crissis for the death of thousands of us soldiers ,for the bird flue , for the microcips implants ,for the sars virus , for the fran masonnery and the global clime changing? 100 years earlier in america, the black people ware shot, hang, beated , and worked to the death by the ,,democrats ,, and now you are telling me that the communism is bad?
o and by the way, long live the hammer and the sickle , and the red star!
Divide and conquer, thats what they do,
thats what they have done.
Western worlds look into your own backyards.
Where is the smuggled out doc of the American defectors who were taken in and lived a life in Nth Korea, married & showed a lifestyle contradictive to this.
More like Henrys anti commo campain………….