10 Days in North Korea

10 Days in North Korea

Directed by Angela Gallardo Bernal (2014)

Film Review

Russian and Spanish with English subtitles

Bernal is a Spanish-speaking documentary filmmaker who makes films for RT. This film ends by noting the pervasive self-censorship in North Koreans she’s allowed to interview. They’re 100% unanimous in their glowing praise for “the General)” for “giving us all his love and everything people need.”

They also steadfastly assert that North Korea has no political prisoners. It’s okay to have different views than the government but not to engage in property destruction or violence.* Felonies are punishable by compulsory labor on farms and construction sites and in mines.

Bermal’s film crew was only allowed to visit the capitol Pyongyang, which is impeccably clean (and totally devoid of street beggars or homeless people) without street beggars or homeless people) and characterized by meticulously arranged aesthetics (flowers, murals etc). The bodies Kim Jong-Un’s father Kim Jong-Il and his grandfather father Kim Il-Song are both embalmed and on display in a mausoleum in the capitol Pyongyang. Major buildings throughout the capitol are covered with gigantic portraits and memorabilia of both former generals.

In Korea as of 2014, the vast majority of North Koreans could only access an internal “Intranet” because the World Wide Web was only accessible to select scientists and researchers. The North Koreans interviewed felt this was a good thing, given the Internet is “full of inappropriate sexuality and American propaganda.” They admitted to being skittish about being exposed to other cultures, which in their view are “basically unstable.”

Ninety percent the delegates of the Supreme Peoples Assembly belong to the Workers Party and 10% to the Democratic Party or Chondoist Changu party. A handful of members have no party affiliations. North Korea’s current leader Kim Jong-Un (known as the “general” or “marshal”) was elected as a delegate after his father Kim Jong-Il died in 2011. He was subsequently elected as Supreme Leader by 100% of the delegates.

The North Korean army is on constant full combat alert. With ten years military service compulsory for all Korean men, in 2014, the country had one million soldiers in addition to their highly militarized police. With Soviet assistance, the government has built a massive fallout shelter to house all North Koreans in the event of a nuclear attack.

North Korea regards the Korean peninsula as a single country, arbitrarily divided by US aggression in 1954. Prior to George Bush II’s designation of North Korea as part of the Axis of Evil, there was an active program (known as the Sunshine Policy) working for North and South Korean reunification** Family reunions of North and South Korean families arbitrarily separated by the US-imposed line of demarcation began in 2000 and ended in 2008, when the Sunshine Policy ended. Regular reunions restarted briefly in 2018 as part of Trump’s efforts to improve US relations with North Korea.

The Kaesong Joint Economic Project (part of the Sunshine Policy**), which has continued, has greatly benefited North Korea’s economy. As of 2014, 100 South Korean companies participated, employing 53,000 North Koreans.

Western sanctions have really hurt North Korea, which relies mostly on tourist revenue and foreign currency generated by North Korean animators. The latter are extremely sought after by foreign filmmakers because they do high quality work very cheaply.

Food shortages are endemic as only 15% of North Korea is arable. The government sets production goals for North Korea’s collective farms and tries to boost farmer and factory morale by encouraging regular visits by students who boost morale via singing and flag waving ceremonies.

Although North Korea receives some UN aid, China is the main supplier of food aid. Roughly two million North Koreans pick up monthly food rations from food ration centers

*Kim Jong-un had his uncle executed in 2013 for high treason (he was accused of corruption and plotting to topple the regime).

**The Sunshine Policy grew out of a treaty (the Agreed Framework) the late president  Jimmy Carter negotiated with Kim Il Sung in 1994. Among other provisions, the agreement included substantial South Korean humanitarian aid to address North Korea’s chronic food shortages, loosening of restrictions on South Korean investment in North Korea, the opening of North Korea’s Kumgang Tourist Region to South Korean visitors, the establishment of a family reunification program, the opening of rail links through the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and a worker exchange program permitting South Korean workers to work at North Korea’s Kaesong Industrial Park.