LivingCorpse commented at 2020-06-16 21:42:11 » #2542116

The eternal struggle for Korea!

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Recon_Agent commented at 2020-06-16 22:34:15 » #2542128

An interesting story about those films: Those movies were North Korean propaganda films. One of the main actresses was a South Korean actress whom was kidnapped in Hong Kong on Kim-Jong Il's orders. The main director for those films was also a South Korean whom was kidnapped (mostly because he was either the boyfriend or husband of the aforementioned actress, whom was searching for her or any whereabouts of her in Hong Kong) The actress was awarded the Soviet equivalent to an Academy Awards for best actress for I believe Pulgasari. They were forced to travel under armed guards while Kim-Jong Il was doing a tour across Europe. Eventually while in Viena, Austria, they managed to evade their chaperones and escaped to the American embassy to claim asylum. After all that, the actress decided to retire, and the director made a few movies before deciding to retire himself.

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LivingCorpse commented at 2020-06-17 00:06:18 » #2542165

Youngary was a South Korea film, but yes Pulgasari was a North Korea film. In 1978 the director, Shin Sang-ok, went looking for his ex wife, actress Choi Eun-hee, when she went missing and both South Koreans were kidnapped and brought to North Korea and oddly enough remarry while captive and were forced to make this film because Kim-Jong Il loved movies and was a huge Godzilla fan. Pulgasari is loosely based off the legend of Bulgasari, a monster from Korean mythology who eats iron.

Kim-Jong Il also tricked Toho filmmakers, kidnapping them including suit actor Kenpachiro Satsuma who had played Gigan and Hedorah in the 70's Godzilla films, play Godzilla himself in 1984, be kidnapped and play Pulgasari in 1985, escape and return to Japan to resume acting as Godzilla from 1989 till 1995.

Shin Sang-ok actually managed to sneak in several anti-North Korea messages, or rather I should say several anti-fascist/dictator messages urging the North Korean people to stand up and overthrow the government, and free themselves. Amazingly Kim-Jong Il never caught on to this. Basically using the monster as a metaphor for how the corrupt government of North Korea needs to be overthrown and replaced with something more humane before it get's too powerful

Shin Sang-ok would direct several movies for Kim-Jong Il, and Choi Eun-hee would act in several as well, Pulgasari would be the last one they made for North Koera. Shin even spent two years in prision after two failed escape attempts. Eventually in 1986, Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee managed to escape after years of captivity while at a film festival in Vienna gaining polotical asylum after managing to sneak to a U.S.embassy after giving their guards the slip.

Here's the wiki page for anyone who wants to read more about it:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abd..._Sang-ok_and_Choi_Eun-hee

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LivingCorpse commented at 2021-06-07 23:56:15 » #2619308

Also turns out South Korea made their own film based off the same monster from Korean folklore that Pulgasari is based off of but decades earlier. It's called Bulgasari and was released in December 1st of 1962. Sadly at the time of me writing this post it is a lost film.

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