Kim Jong Il's Foreign Adventure (Documentary)

[krashkart]

From the people who brought us The Vice Guide To North Korea:

We take a madcap look at one of the weirdest experiments of globalisation: North Korea's deceased leader Kim Jong-Il exporting his people and propaganda machine to Russia in a bid for cold, hard cash.

"You should see their way of living. They live in smelly barns in multiples of ten," a Russian police chief tells us as he drives towards the Korean village. Speaking to the Korean loggers as they take a cigarette break the picture is painted in even starker terms: "What he's saying here is that the majority of workers have a ten-year plus labour commitment to live and work in the middle of nowhere for almost no pay." So why do they do it? As ever the North Korea propoganda machine is present to remind the workers of the 'home land' and the wise teachings of Kim Jong-Il and his father Kim Il Sung. A sign at the town reads: "Kim Il Sung lives with us forever." Yet travelling into one of the strangest of North Korea's frontiers, it is clear that the hermit kingdom's isolationist tactics are not paying off in these camps. Will new leader Kim Jong-un continue the bizarre experiment?

The film is about 40 minutes long, and just as entertaining as the Vice Guide to NK. The trip begins on a stuffy Siberian train heading west into the interior, where things start to go from bad to worse as North Korean officials and the FSB catch on to what the film crew is up to. Eventually the filming stops and they have to make a break for the Chinese border. They did manage to interview some Korean workers, but it was only a few minutes before a Party secretary arrived to chase the film crew away.

Definitely worth a watch.



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