“Inside North Korea” Documentary: Major Themes Essay (Movie Review)

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Introduction

One of the characteristics of North Korean society is the comprehensive state control that applies to all aspects of Korean life. It would be no exaggeration to say that North Korea is the most controlled society in the world today. This essay will analyze the documentary «Inside North Korea» and highlight significant themes of the documentary and how it links to the times of the Choson Dynasty. It will describe the foreign policy, hermetically sealed national policy, and the connection between the background learned from the book and the reality of what North Korea is in the 21st century.

Main body

The documentary follows the correspondent Lisa Ling who can enter the country disguised as a medical coordinator. As a part of their 10-day stay in North Korea, Ling and the film crew gather images of the country’s infrastructure, provide an insight into the mentality of its citizens, and the state of society in various fields. The nature of North Korea’s policy towards foreigners is apparent from the very beginning. Visitors are allowed to stay in the country only in the continuous accompaniment of a guide (“Explorer Inside North Korea Documentary”). DPRK is at the state of total political and information control, with all the ensuing consequences, including the lack of objective data on how the population is controlled there. Of course, this entire system is primarily aimed at domestic political objectives. Partly it is directed against the actions of foreign intelligence services, but its primary goal is to prevent discontent with the regime and nip the very possibility of protest in the bud. It also makes the escape from prison or desertion nearly impossible.

North Korea’s first leader, Kim Il Sung, announced a policy of self-reliance. The national idea of the DPRK is that the Korean people should rely only on themselves. According to Sung, this is the kind of policy that North Korea needs to maintain its political and economic independence (p. 6). It has also led to the total isolation of the country from the rest of the world. A similar approach was adopted during the Choson Dynasty, particularly during the Kojong period, when the West and Japan were prevented from influencing the state.

The documentary demonstrated aspects of some of the characteristics of the regime and everyday life in North Korea. Archival videos, historical facts, and interviews with people related to the country were used. Through observation and communication with citizens, such features of the North Korean model were highlighted as the leader’s personality cult, an unprecedented repressive apparatus, and all kinds of suppression of individual freedom. The documentary showed the spread of many elements of military culture – mainly its command and control element – to civil society as well as a system of propaganda and strict information control. The production quality of the documentary was partially limited by North Korea’s hostility to foreign filming and the regime’s insistence on influencing the filming process. This is due to the fact that DPRK is doing everything possible to create a positive image for the outside world.

The unique, but at the same time deeply rooted in the Far East tradition, a system of political control existing in modern North Korean society is an institution of mutual responsibility. The entire population of North Korea is divided into the so-called inminban people’s groups, which are united in the place of residence from twenty to fifty, and on average – about forty families (Tudor and Pearson, p. 120). In many ways, this system is more effective than even the most extensive network of police informants.

North Korea has become an example of a new incarnation of the ancestral cult. Power is hereditary, and the ruler remains so until death, as was also the case during the Choson dynasty. Almost every word of the leader is carefully recorded, and his portraits are constantly looking over the country from everywhere. As has been shown in the documentary, these portraits are objects of an almost religious cult in North Korea. A significant number of monuments of Kim Il Sung are scattered all over the country. In today’s world, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find a country that could compete with the DPRK in terms of the intensity of propaganda of the population. The orientation towards non-economic (primarily ideological) stimulation, which has been repeatedly declared by the DPRK leadership, contributes to such development of propaganda in the country. Almost completely subordinated to it not only the activities of the mass media but also all the Korean art and literature. One of the most critical tasks pursued by the system of administrative and police control is to ensure the hermeticity of Korean society.

A number of ethical questions were covered in the documentary as it highlighted the nature of North Korea’s restrictions on freedom. There are political repressions similar to those of the Choson dynasty. There is also the destruction of the families of criminals (Tudor and Pearson, p. 118). The head of the family is perceived as responsible for the actions of his clan members, and his guilt naturally casts a shadow over the rest of the household. As for the family members of the repressed, firstly, they are formally to blame for their negligence. Secondly, they are even more to blame for failing to educate a decent citizen. Thirdly, in the context of social struggle, the elimination of the entire family is a way to protect themselves from the vengeance of the descendants of the exterminated.

On the other hand, an effective system of police control and repression is an important (though not the only) factor that has allowed this society to survive for so long. Stability is not only ensured by the regime’s willingness to punish for the slightest manifestations of discontent. One of its main features is total control over all aspects of life. Not only is it impossible to change one’s place of work or residence, but it is also impossible to move around the country (and in many cases, just a night spent away from home) without the approval of the authorities.

Conclusion

The society built in North Korea corresponds to almost all signs of classical anti-utopia: the cult of the leader’s personality, close to deification, militarization, and normalized distribution. There is a presence of a strict, repressive apparatus with exemplary punishments and a system of mutual responsibility, a complex and total propaganda system, state control over the private life of citizens, and so on. These aspects were clearly demonstrated in the documentary «Inside North Korea». The main factor that ensured the successful formation of an ideal authoritarian system in the DPRK was the combination of externally introduced elements of the command-and-control system with the traditional political culture of Korea.

References

  1. “Explorer Inside North Korea Documentary” YouTube, uploaded by Royal Kingdom, 2018.
  2. Sung, Kim Il. For a Free and Peaceful New World. Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1991.
  3. Tudor, Daniel, and James Pearson. North Korea Confidential: Private Markets, Fashion Trends, Prison Camps, Dissenters and Defectors. Tuttle Publishing, 2015.
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IvyPanda. (2022, January 17). "Inside North Korea" Documentary: Major Themes. https://ivypanda.com/essays/inside-north-korea-documentary-review/

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IvyPanda. (2022) '"Inside North Korea" Documentary: Major Themes'. 17 January.

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IvyPanda. 2022. ""Inside North Korea" Documentary: Major Themes." January 17, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/inside-north-korea-documentary-review/.

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IvyPanda. ""Inside North Korea" Documentary: Major Themes." January 17, 2022. https://ivypanda.com/essays/inside-north-korea-documentary-review/.

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