Looong post about North Korea
So, yesterday evening when I was in the young and hip Hyewha district of Seoul, I saw a documentary called A State of Mind which was really very interesting.
The documentary was made by a British crew in 2003 in North Korea. It followed for about a year the lives of two girls living in Pyongyang who were gymnasts and were preparing for the mass games.
What are the mass games, you ask? Well, they're enormous performance involving up to 100,000 performers in Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang. There, huge teams of brightly costumed acrobats execute complex figures in precise unison as school children bearing colored flashcards create ever-shifting backdrop images of battles, slogans and the omnipresent faces of Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994, and his son Kim Jong Il, the current leader.
It's spectacular and chilling. It's the crushing of the individual in favor of the mass. These games represent millions of hours of training. The school children with the flashcards spend 2 hours a day training to be capable of opening the flashcard book at the right page. The gymnasts, like the two girls, train every afternoon after school, and up to 10 hours a day as the games draw near.
I recommend viewing the (beautiful) trailer of the documentary, where you get to see a bit of the Mass Games. But really, try to see the whole thing, it leaves a strong impression.
So, meet Pak Hyon Sun, age 14 (left) and Kim Song Yon, age 11 (right).
Both girls live in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Pyongyang has a population of about 2.7 million. In North Korea, it is a great priviledge to live in Pyongyang, as life there is considerably more comfortable than in the countryside.
North Korea's society is divided into three classes: Workers, Peasants and Intellectuals.
Hyon Sun's family belongs to the workers' class. Her father is a driver for a Ministry, her grandfather works on construction sites, and her mother and grandmother are housewives. The whole family lives together. Hyon Sun has her own room, as have her parents, and the grandparents sleep in the living room.
Song Yon's father is an intellectual, he teaches physics. Her mother is a housewife, and she has two older sisters, age 15 and 18. Song Yon alternates sleeping in each of her sisters' bedroom.
I really liked the documentary, but it feels strange knowing intellectually about North Korea and its crazed totalitarian regime, and then seeing a glimpse of these two teenage girls' lives, who are so... well, normal.
They gossip and giggle, hide things from their parents, get scolded by their teachers, enjoy picnics, like dancing... Hyon Sun complains about the fact she's an only child, and wishes she had brothers or sisters. She also says she's not very good at school, and the teachers say to the camera that her training takes too much time away from her studying.
Of course, I have no doubt they belong to the well-off part of the North Korean population, even if compared to Western standards or the standards here in South Korea their apartments seem bare and cramped, and their life a bit dreary. But they at least have food and entertainment such as a radio and the TV.
The tone of the film remains carefully neutral. Naturally, the worst parts of North Korean life are either lightly touched on or not included. In his narration, Gordon is quite clear that they had government minders and interpreters with them at all times. It is repeated that we know as little of North Koreans as they know of us. However, they were given quite a lot of freedom when making the movie, as they're able to discuss some of the hardships of life in North Korea.
For example, Son Yon's mother was the first ordinary Korean to speak to a foreign media about the 1995 famine. She said the most horrible part of the year was in March, called now "the Arduous Month of March".
She recounted that for their eldest daughter's birthday, the birthday girl got an entire bowl of maize porridge to herself, while the two other girls got each half a bowl. You can imagine how food was on ordinary days, and how the countryside was faring. We'll probably never know how many people died of hunger.
Son Yon's mother said things were much better now. But we learn for example that their family's monthly ration is of 5 eggs and 1 chicken. For 5 people, with 3 growing girls. Today, the biggest threat to North Korean children is probably malnutrition.
Son Yon's father talked a bit about his interest in what was going on in the rst of the world, and especially about how they were interested by the Iraqi war, and wished to have more information. At that point in the movie making, Baghdad had fallen 4 days earlier, but it had not been announced by the North Korean media.
One thing that really amazed me: the families have a TV, where there's only one State channel, who has about 5 hours of programmes each day. There is of course nothing but propaganda. Son Yon likes to watch the children's movie. This time it was about squirrels who made a really neat army. But an evil squirrel tried to betray the general of the squirrels. Fortunately, the other squirrels discovered the traitor and kicked his ass. Knowing that Kim Jong Il is often simply called "the General" by his people...
Also, all kitchens are built with a radio fixed in the wall, who broadcasts propaganda speeches and music all day long. The amazing thing is that you can turn the sound down a bit, but you can never switch off the radio.
How much more 1984-like can you get? O_o
The film-makers also accompanied the girls to school. The poor things were so tired by their intensive gym training that they arrived late that morning.
School in North Korea begins every day by a role call, during wich the school director glorifies North Korea and its leaders. This lasts 1/2 hour every morning, then the children enter the school -- at goose-step.
First they have an English lesson. The dialogues in their English books go along these lines:
"Hello! What do you want to do when you grow up?"
"We all want to enlist in the D.P.R.K-People's Army and help our Dear Exalted Leader."
Then it was time for Revolutionary History. Think about as boring as Professor Binn's class in Harry Potter, but with the communist ideology. There we were treated to a lesson on Kim-Il-Son's visionary powers, and the danger the USA represented for the North Korean people.
Blackouts in Pyonyang hit nearly every night and they're blamed, like most other bad things in North Korea, on the arrogant American imperialists. That means most of you, dear LJ friends.
It's quite mind-boggling to listen to the girls talking about their love for the General and their fear and hatred of the imperialist America. The people in North Korea have been taught for the last 55 years that the rest of the world is out to get them. Kim senior and junior are quite the scam artists: because of them these girls are growing up in the last totalitarian regime on Earth, and they love them for it.
I'm not joking, they were very exalted. Especially Hyon Sun. Perhaps because of her grandparents, who seem to be hard-liners. Her grandmother says in the movie: "When it comes to cultivating her group mentality and strengthening her will, we are strict." On the other hand, little Song Yon and her family (the intellectuals) seem a shade more reserved. Though her big sister does enlist in the NK army during the movie-making.
They both fervently hope that Kim Jong Il will come to see the show.
The last part of the documentary was about the first official performance after all these months of training.
The spectacle was jaw-dropping. Well, the music the British chose for their documentary probably helped too, because North Korean music is a bit lame. Something techno-like works better than violins for a mass game, if you want my opinion.
What was jaw-dropping too was the group of heavily-medaled, grim-looking generals who came to see the 45-minutes show and looked bored out of their minds. One looked at his watch at one point.
Kim Jong Il was unable to attend any of the 24 shows given in his honor for which these kids had trained up to 10 hours every day, for the last 10 months.
The documentary was made by a British crew in 2003 in North Korea. It followed for about a year the lives of two girls living in Pyongyang who were gymnasts and were preparing for the mass games.
What are the mass games, you ask? Well, they're enormous performance involving up to 100,000 performers in Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang. There, huge teams of brightly costumed acrobats execute complex figures in precise unison as school children bearing colored flashcards create ever-shifting backdrop images of battles, slogans and the omnipresent faces of Kim Il Sung, who died in 1994, and his son Kim Jong Il, the current leader.
It's spectacular and chilling. It's the crushing of the individual in favor of the mass. These games represent millions of hours of training. The school children with the flashcards spend 2 hours a day training to be capable of opening the flashcard book at the right page. The gymnasts, like the two girls, train every afternoon after school, and up to 10 hours a day as the games draw near.
I recommend viewing the (beautiful) trailer of the documentary, where you get to see a bit of the Mass Games. But really, try to see the whole thing, it leaves a strong impression.
So, meet Pak Hyon Sun, age 14 (left) and Kim Song Yon, age 11 (right).
Both girls live in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. Pyongyang has a population of about 2.7 million. In North Korea, it is a great priviledge to live in Pyongyang, as life there is considerably more comfortable than in the countryside.
North Korea's society is divided into three classes: Workers, Peasants and Intellectuals.
Hyon Sun's family belongs to the workers' class. Her father is a driver for a Ministry, her grandfather works on construction sites, and her mother and grandmother are housewives. The whole family lives together. Hyon Sun has her own room, as have her parents, and the grandparents sleep in the living room.
Song Yon's father is an intellectual, he teaches physics. Her mother is a housewife, and she has two older sisters, age 15 and 18. Song Yon alternates sleeping in each of her sisters' bedroom.
I really liked the documentary, but it feels strange knowing intellectually about North Korea and its crazed totalitarian regime, and then seeing a glimpse of these two teenage girls' lives, who are so... well, normal.
They gossip and giggle, hide things from their parents, get scolded by their teachers, enjoy picnics, like dancing... Hyon Sun complains about the fact she's an only child, and wishes she had brothers or sisters. She also says she's not very good at school, and the teachers say to the camera that her training takes too much time away from her studying.
Of course, I have no doubt they belong to the well-off part of the North Korean population, even if compared to Western standards or the standards here in South Korea their apartments seem bare and cramped, and their life a bit dreary. But they at least have food and entertainment such as a radio and the TV.
The tone of the film remains carefully neutral. Naturally, the worst parts of North Korean life are either lightly touched on or not included. In his narration, Gordon is quite clear that they had government minders and interpreters with them at all times. It is repeated that we know as little of North Koreans as they know of us. However, they were given quite a lot of freedom when making the movie, as they're able to discuss some of the hardships of life in North Korea.
For example, Son Yon's mother was the first ordinary Korean to speak to a foreign media about the 1995 famine. She said the most horrible part of the year was in March, called now "the Arduous Month of March".
She recounted that for their eldest daughter's birthday, the birthday girl got an entire bowl of maize porridge to herself, while the two other girls got each half a bowl. You can imagine how food was on ordinary days, and how the countryside was faring. We'll probably never know how many people died of hunger.
Son Yon's mother said things were much better now. But we learn for example that their family's monthly ration is of 5 eggs and 1 chicken. For 5 people, with 3 growing girls. Today, the biggest threat to North Korean children is probably malnutrition.
Son Yon's father talked a bit about his interest in what was going on in the rst of the world, and especially about how they were interested by the Iraqi war, and wished to have more information. At that point in the movie making, Baghdad had fallen 4 days earlier, but it had not been announced by the North Korean media.
One thing that really amazed me: the families have a TV, where there's only one State channel, who has about 5 hours of programmes each day. There is of course nothing but propaganda. Son Yon likes to watch the children's movie. This time it was about squirrels who made a really neat army. But an evil squirrel tried to betray the general of the squirrels. Fortunately, the other squirrels discovered the traitor and kicked his ass. Knowing that Kim Jong Il is often simply called "the General" by his people...
Also, all kitchens are built with a radio fixed in the wall, who broadcasts propaganda speeches and music all day long. The amazing thing is that you can turn the sound down a bit, but you can never switch off the radio.
How much more 1984-like can you get? O_o
The film-makers also accompanied the girls to school. The poor things were so tired by their intensive gym training that they arrived late that morning.
School in North Korea begins every day by a role call, during wich the school director glorifies North Korea and its leaders. This lasts 1/2 hour every morning, then the children enter the school -- at goose-step.
First they have an English lesson. The dialogues in their English books go along these lines:
"Hello! What do you want to do when you grow up?"
"We all want to enlist in the D.P.R.K-People's Army and help our Dear Exalted Leader."
Then it was time for Revolutionary History. Think about as boring as Professor Binn's class in Harry Potter, but with the communist ideology. There we were treated to a lesson on Kim-Il-Son's visionary powers, and the danger the USA represented for the North Korean people.
Blackouts in Pyonyang hit nearly every night and they're blamed, like most other bad things in North Korea, on the arrogant American imperialists. That means most of you, dear LJ friends.
It's quite mind-boggling to listen to the girls talking about their love for the General and their fear and hatred of the imperialist America. The people in North Korea have been taught for the last 55 years that the rest of the world is out to get them. Kim senior and junior are quite the scam artists: because of them these girls are growing up in the last totalitarian regime on Earth, and they love them for it.
I'm not joking, they were very exalted. Especially Hyon Sun. Perhaps because of her grandparents, who seem to be hard-liners. Her grandmother says in the movie: "When it comes to cultivating her group mentality and strengthening her will, we are strict." On the other hand, little Song Yon and her family (the intellectuals) seem a shade more reserved. Though her big sister does enlist in the NK army during the movie-making.
They both fervently hope that Kim Jong Il will come to see the show.
The last part of the documentary was about the first official performance after all these months of training.
The spectacle was jaw-dropping. Well, the music the British chose for their documentary probably helped too, because North Korean music is a bit lame. Something techno-like works better than violins for a mass game, if you want my opinion.
What was jaw-dropping too was the group of heavily-medaled, grim-looking generals who came to see the 45-minutes show and looked bored out of their minds. One looked at his watch at one point.
Kim Jong Il was unable to attend any of the 24 shows given in his honor for which these kids had trained up to 10 hours every day, for the last 10 months.