Episode 96: Kidnapped By North Korea Part 2 (Case of Choi Eun-hee)
You want us to do what? - the couple had been kidnapped and forced to live in North Korea for years before they found out the truth.
The wife was a former beloved movie actress. The husband was an award winning film director. And now North Korea had kidnapped them to make movies for Kim Jong Il.
It sounds like a fictional story - but it was very much real. And the couple’s lives depended on how good of a movie they could make.
(Please listen to Part 1 before this episode!)
Book Rec: “A Kim Jong Il Production” - by Paul Fischer (Even my Korean parents who grew up with this case on the news learned so much from this book! 10/10)
Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com
Source notes:
Book: “A Kim Jong Il Production” - by Paul Fischer (Even my Korean parents who grew up with this case on the news learned so much from this book! 10/10)
Book: “Under The Loving Care of Fatherly Leader: North Korea & The Kim Dynasty” - by Bradley K Martin
Movie: “The Lovers & The Despot”
YouTube channels of North Korean defectors that provide immense insight:
https://www.youtube.com/c/YeonmiParkOfficial/videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBcoJKPWNBqYlx2WMIe-fug
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8SgCNROofV09K8b03ypfVg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2ZdzVf10YE
https://nypost.com/2015/01/18/how-north-koreas-dictator-once-kidnapped-stars-to-make-movies/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/21/kim-jong-il-movie-star-kidnap-plot-north-south-korea-godzilla
https://www.nytimes.com/1986/03/23/world/rumors-reappear-with-south-korean-couple.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-43792417
DISCLAIMER: Some links are listed in the source material but the material may never be discussed in the podcast (I just wanted to list them because they gave me a deeper picture of the case in full). If there are un-verifiable sources (ie Reddit) - they are typically referred to as un-verified sources, opinions, and or theories in the podcast and not treated as fact.