The Propaganda Game (2015) Movie Script
1
Now we want to take
everyone to North Korea.
We have an unprecedented
investigation by
the United Nations taking us
inside a kind of hell.
- It's mad and sad and bad
and silly all in the same time.
- Most tours go to North Korea
with very low expectations.
Because everybody
watches the documentaries,
reads the news, and so on.
And even if 90 percent of
what they learn is not true,
at least it's something
they've looked into.
Because everybody knows
North Korea is an unusual place.
Everybody knows they do things
differently to everyone else.
What we ignore
is that there is life
for 24 million people there.
- The regime seeks
to dominate every aspect
of its citizens' lives
and terrorizes them from within.
We don't have much awareness
of the Western mentality,
of how they perceive
the Koreans from outside
from the rest of the world.
- For the outside world
it's sort of a freak show.
That's part of the fascination
with North Korea.
There aren't that many real
mysteries left in the world,
and this is a closed,
mysterious place.
Due to the U.S. hostile policy
to our Korea,
they try to isolate and,
you know,
stifle our country,
consistently threaten our people.
- The situation in North Korea
is extremely grave.
The country
is a totalitarian regime.
It is a regime
that doesn't respect
the universal human rights
of its citizens.
- Amnesty International,
which has been investigating
human rights violations
for the last 50 years,
we find North Korea to be
in a category of its own.
There's a severe food crisis.
Freedom of expression,
freedom of speech,
freedom of association
is severely curtailed.
- Torture, rape, forced
abortion, and execution.
- Just unprecedented
crimes against humanity.
And the world
can't close its eyes to that
and pretend it's not there just
because there's a nuclear problem.
- Pyongyang warns
an explosion is imminent,
and war could break out
today or tomorrow.
- North Korea does not
and will not benefit
from violating international law.
- How concerned should we be?
- How dangerous is the situation?
- This is how wars start.
- Threats of terror-like violence
and another premiere cancelled.
- We cannot have a society
in which some dictator someplace
can start imposing censorship
here in the United States.
Because if somebody is able
to intimidate folks
out of releasing
a satirical movie,
imagine what they'd start doing
when they see
a documentary
that they don't like.
We honor, we honor
to the highest degree
our Great Leader Kim Jong-un
we honor to the highest degree.
We honor, we honor
to the highest degree
our Great Leader Kim Jong-un.
We honor to the highest degree.
North Korea is known
as the Hermit Kingdom,
and there is a reason for this.
It is almost impossible to get in,
especially with a camera.
Over the centuries, Korea
has been invaded more than 100 times
by its powerful neighbors
China and Japan.
Today, it remains the last
stronghold of communism.
My name is Alvaro Longoria.
I am a filmmaker from Spain.
For many years, I have been rather
fascinated by North Korea.
Probably like you, I have wondered:
Is everything we read and hear
about North Korea really true?
Over the next days,
is my quest to seek out the truth.
After many failed attempts
to get into the country,
I heard about Alejandro,
the only foreigner who works
for the government of North Korea.
I contacted him through Facebook
and a year later, we were officially
invited into the country.
Sponsored by Alejandro,
and provided we followed
their strict rules,
we would be granted
privileged access.
We were put
on a predetermined itinerary
and could not leave
the hotel alone.
At all times we were accompanied
by our Korean guides.
In theory, we were allowed to
interview anybody we wanted.
- Korea is a small country
thousands of miles away.
But what is happening there is
important to every American.
- A highly trained and well-equipped
North Korean army
swarmed across the 38th parallel
to attack
unprepared South Korean defenders.
- The scene was set for a war
between North and South.
With the North supplied
by China with tacet backing
from the Soviet Union.
And the South supported
by the United States and its allies.
- The cost was high to Americans
who bore the brunt
under the UN banner.
Here they faced an enemy who
ruthlessly slaughtered prisoners,
many with their arms bound.
- First films
of the ceremonies at Panmunjom
that end 3 years
of bitter, costly conflict.
The bulky agreement spells out
in minutest detail
every provision of the truce.
The ceasefire is good news
to the men at the front,
but it is almost sombre here.
Every UN member present
knows that the big problems
remain to be solved, even
if the enemy acts in good faith.
But there is hope.
A big step forward has been taken.
The armistice becomes official.
The fighting is over.
Prisoners will be exchanged,
but there is little rejoicing.
The Cold War is on, and the
Free World wonders what next.
On day one, we headed
to the South Korean border,
the most militarized
in the world,
wrongly named the
"Demilitarized Zone".
In the 200 km highway
from Pyongyang,
we only saw one car,
a couple of bicycles and a bus.
Until September of 1945,
when the U.S. occupied South Korea,
the 38th parallel marked the division
between the North and the South.
The intention of the U.S.
when they occupied South Korea,
was to provoke a war
with North Korea
and to keep advancing to the north of
the country to rule over all of Asia.
This is the division of the country
that was made back then
and has remained untouched
causing misery and distress
for more than half a century.
Around this line there is
an area of 4 km called
the "Demilitarized Zone".
Panmunjom is the most
unstable place in the world
where 2 nations at war are not
separated by a physical border.
The Demilitarized Zone
was not what we expected.
This is probably the most
dangerous place in the world.
At the moment that's what they say
the most heavily militarized...
But here it's very peaceful,
on our side.
On our side it looks very relaxed.
To be honest, we were expecting
something much more...
Except for the clapping.
Over there, that's South Korea
and those blue buildings
are the border.
This place is strange and it feels
like a tourist attraction.
This is the only place
where we can cross
from the North to the South.
This room has been the setting
for approximately 12,000 meetings
since the end of the war
until March of 1991.
The purpose of these meetings was
to denounce the acts of provocation
and the violations of the conditions
of the armistice by the U.S.
Since the end of the war until 1991,
more than 815,000 infractions
have been registered
committed by the U.S. government.
The violation of the conditions
of the armistice
has caused that, at any time, nuclear
war could break out in Korea.
In order to preserve peace
in Korea and in the World,
we need to design a new system
that can assure peace
between us and the U.S.
But the U.S. keeps doing
military tests
and every year they increase
the deployment of nuclear weapons
in South Korea.
Our victory is not recognized
by the U.S.
and doesn't appear in their books.
We do not know
how it will be taught in the future.
Documents, they showed
how the war was prepared
by the North Koreans.
Evidence from the
Russian and Chinese archives
was published 20 years ago,
but most North Koreans
still believe
the war was initiated
by the Americans.
When I was in North Korea.
I was taught that America
started the Korean War
but when I came to South Korea
and studied the history,
I realized that
it was actually North Korea
that first attacked South Korea.
We always explain the Korean War
was started by the U.S.
although there was
a fight going on
because our guerillas
led by President Kim Il-sung,
liberated the Northern half
while the U.S. was advancing
from the South.
Then they collided and there were
many skirmishes and fighting.
Even if the Americans
recognize their wrongdoing,
we won't let them
enter our country,
nor will we let them
sign this treaty.
In school we are taught
that the United States
is the cause
of our economic hardship
and the reason why
our lives are so difficult.
That is why the North Koreans
believe the U.S. is to blame
for their mortification
and their dissatisfaction.
It is all the fault
of the United States.
We cannot live like enemies forever.
Some people change their policies,
or apologize for the past
but, speaking of Americans
they never did.
Imperialists are still...
they didn't throw away
their policy.
They're sanctioning
and stifling ours.
So defending our country,
of course, that matter comes first.
Military force is very important,
so we are enforcing
Songun politics
even in present times.
"Army first" politics.
It means a country
without a powerful army
cannot survive.
It will be always dependent
on the big superpowers.
The principle
of the Songun revolution
is that the army is the party,
the nation and the people.
This means the party
can only subsist and prosper
thanks to the military forces.
Songun is a statement by
the North Korean Government.
The soldiers are the most
progressive class in the society,
who is playing the leading role
in defining its political line.
These statements however are
completely unrelated to reality,
it's just the rhetoric exercise
by the professional ideologues.
Korea spends 16% of its GDP
on the military.
This is huge,
considering the economic situation
where there is widespread
hunger and poverty.
However,
given the geographic location,
Korea needs to keep up
this investment
as they have to be prepared
for war at any moment.
- North Korea, the secretive nation
with its mysterious
young dictator,
announcing they will test their
nuclear power,
a rocket big enough
and with enough range
to reach the west coast
of the United States.
May represent
the most advanced technology
we've ever seen
come out of North Korea.
- It's terrifying.
- So thrilled was this country
by their rocket launch
fireworks ripped through the sky.
North Korean newscasters
announced the successful launch
with ecstasy.
The launch has been a success!
We are always
on the verge of nuclear war.
The U.S. is allowed to have
the highest amount
of nuclear weapons.
We cannot afford
to be unprotected.
North Korea aims
for the nuclear bomb
since the 90s,
because, until then,
it has been protected
by the soviet nuclear umbrella.
And this is something that the
Western media always forget:
Korea has always been
under the threat
of the Western nuclear weapon
always.
We are forced
you can understand it,
when they are organizing
a sort of big campaign,
a military campaign,
and execute military rehearsals
every year
in front of our nose,
we can't stay with folded arms
we have to do
our part of the job.
This is self-defense, definitely.
- These are among
the biggest simulated battles
staged anywhere in the world.
And, on occasion,
these exercises have provoked
a violent reaction from the North.
Sometimes the North
has held its own exercises
determined to show
its military might.
On other occasions,
the bombardment has been real.
It's much more interesting
to analyze
the "menace"
that North Korea represents
for the rest of the world.
It's a country
that has never invaded others,
whose army is basically made of
junk.
It's like comparing
a space station
with a toaster.
- It's not a joke.
It's a country
with the fourth largest
standing army in the world.
It's a country
which is armed to the teeth
with 20 nuclear warheads
and with an increasingly
sophisticated missile delivery
system.
If we didn't protect ourselves,
if we weren't strong,
we would succumb
to the menace of imperialism.
Armed robbery
has to be answered with weapons.
A powerful army needs to be prepared
to overthrow the imperialist invader.
It's a credible argument,
It's not a crazy idea of the Kims',
to get nuclear weapons,
it is a matter of survival.
Based on what happened
to Saddam Hussein
after they did engage
in some disarmament,
so the North Koreans
feel that the only thing
that's protecting them
is their nuclear weapons.
Do you think if you didn't have
the nuclear weapon
you would have been invaded?
Most probably, yes.
Only by building a powerful
and nuclear deterrence force
we can stop the bullying
and the threats from the U.S.
My dream has always been
to be a member
of our Korean People's Army
since I was so young.
I could say that I am born in Spain,
I am born Spanish
but adopted North Korean.
The way he speaks
about our country,
the way he appreciates our country,
is very much valued
by our people.
They like him.
And sometimes,
in the streets,
some Koreans recognize him.
"Oh, hello, I saw you before!",
and "I am so happy to meet you!"
like that.
There are a lot of sympathizers.
But it is not often
that someone goes as far
as to be willing
to give his life for us,
like Alejandro.
When I was 16,
I had my first encounter
with the minister Li Jong Gun
and he instructed me
on what the country really means
and this was my first relationship
with a North Korean friend.
He had seen my potential
and he told me:
"Alejandro, you cannot waste
your capacity, your knowledge,
as a soldier of the People's Army.
We have millions of soldiers.
But we don't have anyone
who understands,
who's been born into capitalism,
and who can act as a bridge
between both cultures,
between both ideologies.
Our party, our country,
needs you outside."
He was like a mentor to Alejandro.
He told me once:
"Your son is the number one Korean."
It was a surprise for us.
We knew very little
about the country.
So you are influenced by the ideas,
the news, everything you hear.
It affects you.
So, we were somehow...
not afraid,
but we felt we needed
to act with caution
and we told him to be very aware
and to take precaution.
He had an interest in communism,
he was looking
for that model society,
a society that distributed
the riches among all citizens,
that was fair,
because he hadn't found one.
So when he was a member
of political parties
like Izquierda Unida,
or the Communist Party
he realized that
the ideas were beautiful,
but the people in charge
were
selfish,
ambitious,
and that clashed
with his personality
so he kept looking.
The way to reach
the socialist paradise
depends on our Great Leader
Kim Jong-il.
Long live our Great Leader
Kim Jong-il!
Long live the DPRK!
Where are you taking us now?
We are going to the Mansu bronze
statues of our Great Leaders,
President Kim Il-sung and
our Generalissimo Kim Jong-il.
We are going to present a flower
bouquet as a symbol of respect
for April 15th,
which is the birthday anniversary
of President Kim Il-sung.
Everybody can buy flowers
and offer them
as a symbol of respect
for his work and dedication
for the revolution.
That's a tradition.
In all national holidays,
even when you marry, to come
and pay respect to our leaders
because, more than anything,
the leaders are our fathers.
We are part of a big family,
and, in that family
the figures of the leaders
are like the fathers
of the full society.
Our hearts are full of respect
for our leaders.
We come here often,
as if this were our own house,
to thank them.
We North Koreans feel very proud
of having leaders
that the whole world admires.
Good morning, sir.
- I'm Alejandro, the Spanish soldier.
- He's a soldier of our General.
He is doing a great job
making relations for our country.
Yes, my General.
So is he a veteran from the war?
He fought in the revolution war.
I went to the river Nakdong.
Then I fought with
the Chinese People's Army.
I hope in my life
to follow his footsteps
and also give my life
for the motherland
and preserving socialism
and our Great Leaders.
We feel very, very proud
and we feel very strong.
We have the motivation
to fight against imperialism.
And they won't be able to attack us,
we are a very strong country.
I am 82 years old.
Thanks to Great Leader Kim Jong-il
and to Kim Jong-un
veterans like me
enjoy many benefits
from the government.
For example, we have a house,
but there are many other things.
We have a special card
for medical assistance
and we receive all kinds
of treatments and care.
We also have access to limited food,
like some vegetables.
In general we enjoy many
commodities.
Life in this country
as opposed to capitalism,
is guaranteed for all the people.
Housing, medical service,
education in the university
food, clothing,
whatever you need in the daily life
is provided, guaranteed for free.
All the necessary daily necessities
we get from the government.
We don't pay taxes,
we don't pay for the houses...
Under the wise leadership
of our Marshal Kim Jong-un,
the economy of our country
is developing step by step.
As you may see, in Pyongyang there
are many new apartment houses
and new museums and many recreation
places for the people.
Not only in Pyongyang
but also in the countryside,
we are constructing amenities
facilities and many places
which is conducive to improving
the livelihood of the people.
Our Great Leader
Comrade Kim Jong-il
first defended the country
and then created the foundation
on which we can
improve our economy.
So, are you happy?
Yes.
Ok, so here is the main building
of the War Museum.
As you see here the museum
consists of three floors.
And you see this is a statue
of the Great Leader President
Kim Il-sung,
who defeated two imperialisms
in one generation.
As you know he defeated
the Japanese army and the Americans.
And here we'll make a line
and we'll make a bow to our Great
Leader President Kim Il-sung.
We were alone there,
despite the fact that it's Sunday
and it should be full.
It's hard to understand why that is.
Maybe it's only the military
that go there,
maybe it's not open for regular
people... We don't know.
It's nearly built, now.
There were many specialists,
designers...
But I am sure
Marshal Kim Jong-un
instructed it
from the start to the end.
This panorama is an oil painting,
it's 15 metres high
and 132 metres long
and 42 meters diameter.
Also it's only 13.5 metres away
from your seat to the picture
but you can see more than
40 kilometres away from the picture.
So, watching this,
are you proud?
Yes, very proud.
The Korean people can visit here
and they can experience
how the Korean People's Army
have fought against the invaders.
Now we can take the route
of Marshal Kim Jong-un.
Did he...
use the machines?
That's the one.
Muscle development machine used
by our esteemed Supreme Leader
Kim Jong-un.
When our respected Marshal
Comrade Kim Jong-un
was looking around this,
it was not a slide, there was a
step.
But he told us, very wisely
if there is a step, people will get
hurt, by the sharp edges,
and he told our construction workers
to change this into a slide.
Socialist hamburgers
hot dogs, chicken wings...
Not the American McDonald's.
Not American
communist state products.
For the first time in five days,
we are alone.
It's amazing...
Oh, here they come.
This building was built
only last year
so this is the most updated
and modern.
Very luxury.
Watching U.S. movies is prohibited,
strangely, Disney's "Brave"
was playing on the TV.
This building has 300 apartments
and they are all the same.
They are presents from Kim Jong-un
to teachers for spreading his word.
Can you ask her
to show us the fridge?
What is she cooking for tonight?
She is too shy.
We never saw the fridge.
One question that keeps on
coming back to my mind is:
Where is the money coming from?
Lots of new constructions...
Lots of new stuff like this
I mean, this is not a set.
Would you say that living conditions
have improved?
Not only my family,
but all Korean people are happy
to lead such happy, civilized lives
and we are enjoying
this updated amusement park,
so we are happy.
After only 5 days in Pyongyang,
the constant propaganda
was starting to work.
With enough time
maybe even I could be convinced.
What does he do?
I was in the army
but now I have entered university.
So after the army
he went to university.
What is he studying?
Locomotive driver.
What is his aspiration in life?
His dream? His goal?
My dream?
I want to be a locomotive driver
to work for my Great Leader.
- There's a system in North Korea
called songbun.
And it's a ranking
by your loyalty
to the leadership.
And people are divided
into a core class
of those who are considered
the party members
and the real supporters
of the regime.
And then there's a wavering class
in the middle, the vast middle,
and then the undesirables
at the bottom.
And where you live,
what kind of job you have,
where you go to school,
that's based on your class.
There are three free benefits
in North Korea:
Free housing, free medical care
and free education.
Although there is free medical
care, there is no medicine to cure,
and with free housing you cannot
choose where you want to live
and with free education you have
to learn the ideology of the regime
even if you don't want to.
We salute him
when we go to school
and we salute him again
when we go back home.
He is the one
who loves us the most
us, the children.
Our father, General Kim Jong-il.
- North Koreans are brainwashed
from the minute they're born.
Almost the first thing
they learn to say is
"thank you, dear leader."
He is the one who loves us the most,
us, the children.
Our father, General Kim Jong-il.
Our father, General Kim Jong-il.
First it's education,
obviously it's very important,
since you are a kid,
that you grow up
and you learn to live
according to the ideology
to the communism.
Then, of course,
the education provided
not only by professors or teachers
but the mass media
or televisions, newspapers and so on
work on human values
and try to make the people better
in their daily lives.
We think that everything
that appears in the film,
all the workers and all the people,
must collaborate
in benefit of the people.
Propaganda can also be used
as a means of education
to contribute to the culture
of our citizens.
- Kim Jong-il was
very involved in film.
He wrote a book called Kim Jong-il
on The Art of Cinema
explaining how film
could be used to instill
patriotism in the masses.
They certainly recognize
the role of domestic propaganda.
The idea Juche,
created by Kim Il-sung,
was developed by Kim Jong-il.
It establishes the principle
that if we leave everything
in the hands of society,
the latter can decide everything.
It's a concept
that cannot be compared
to any other ideology of the past
or the teachings of Confucius.
- It probably began
in the idealism of a kind of
communism, but also
a kind of nationalism
and romantic historicism.
- It kind of started out
as kind of a humanistic
approach to philosophy,
a humanistic idea
that man was
the centre of the universe,
that man could go accomplish
all of his problems.
And it became...
Like Kim Jong-il as the worship
of the dear leader,
it really became
a way to control.
It's an ideology
that intends to combine.
Marxism Leninism,
the ideas of Mao Zedong
and religion.
Of course, to make
a combination of all
that you need to make it
so nobody can understand it.
If no one can understand it,
no one will protest against it.
It basically says
man is the master of all things.
And everything has to be done
in a peculiar way
which is suitable
for this current situation.
Wonderful.
Such a great philosophical
discovery.
And if you look at what North
Koreans write about Juche
you see it's a platitude
after platitude.
Juche ideology in North Korea
is like the Bible in Christianity,
it's like words from God,
so North Koreans have to believe
the Juche ideology
without any questions.
What they need to do
is to learn it by heart.
They know it,
and they can recite it,
like the Quran
or the Bible.
"I don't understand this."
No one dares,
much less so
in a country like Korea.
You don't understand it?
North Koreans
don't understand it either.
I had a strict education.
If I didn't believe
what I was being taught,
I was punished.
I can basically say.
Juche is nothing.
Because you can basically
summarize Marxism
but you cannot summarize Juche.
Is this clear?
Could you summarize, briefly
what the Juche idea is?
Are you a specialist in philosophy?
No, I try to understand.
The best explanation
is to see our reality.
It's better to know our country than
to listen to me a hundred times.
It's better to see our reality
than to listen to my words.
What you see here is
three huge doors,
metallic, that will close
in the event of a U.S. attack.
One, two and three
will be completely sealed
from the exterior, you see?
All these frames?
In case of attack,
everything is ready to use the
underground transportation system
to move the people
and shelter hundreds of thousands.
Maybe him?
Or all of them
at the same time?
Him?
Good morning, sir.
He is a director from Spain.
- It's a pleasure.
- The same.
He would like to ask you
some questions.
In many countries
especially in the Western world,
people are very impressed
with the love and reverence
of the Korean people as one family
united around their leader.
They cannot understand
the power of that unity.
What would you say
to those people,
in other countries of the world
that don't understand?
How can there be
such a single-minded unity?
I cannot think of a specific way
to explain it to the people
who don't understand us.
But if they came here,
if they saw the reality,
maybe they could understand us.
That would be worth
a thousand words.
It would be much more convincing.
What he says is true:
f you don't come,
if you don't see it,
if you don't ask the people,
you'll never believe it.
That is the strength of Korea.
- Most foreigners
have never met a North Korean.
Most North Koreans
have never met a foreigner.
The view that we have of them
is very negative.
The view they have of us
is even more negative.
- Where are you from?
- Spain.
Do you know where Spain is?
Why are you here in DPRK?
Because we want to know
how people live here.
We are very happy.
Are they as happy as we are?
Do they have a president?
In Spain are there also
people who love children?
All kids like you like football.
What is your favorite
Spanish league team?
- Koreo!
- No, Spanish league.
Barcelona!
Me, Atltico de Madrid.
Is it better and more beautiful
than here?
Some parts are similar
but this country is very beautiful.
So many foreigners
when they first come to our country,
they are just, you could say
surprised, at the realities.
When they come and see this
they say: "This is wonderful."
When they come here
and they see the Korean people
wearing different dresses
they say:
"Wow, when I was abroad,
there was a propaganda that said
that Korean people had to wear
only one uniform,
you know, just like
one clothing, with no differences...
I think
foreigners need to come here
and see the reality.
- I understand
that especially with North Korea,
you've got so much misinformation
and so little information.
It's not so much misinformation,
I feel that any scrap of information
that the West gets,
it's like, well, they did this,
let's make a story out of it.
And there's no information on it.
- When there's a vacuum,
it's easy to create
and make it believable.
Sometimes they are created
as a parody,
and it still rings true.
Why, because we just know
so little about the country.
North Korea is an unimaginable
country.
There is only one TV channel.
There is no Internet.
We aren't free to sing, say,
wear or think what we want.
North Korea is the only country
in the world,
that executes people,
for making unauthorized
international phone calls.
- The North Korean government
has announced
that it found a unicorn.
- Ah, foreigners are funny.
- A unicorn is a mythical creature
that the Greeks
first mentioned,
but it's in North Korea.
Now my question to you
is if you were
a unicorn, you would go
to North Korea, right?
I mean that's the only place
you'd want to be is there.
- But everything's like
that with North Korea.
It's always an exaggeration
and a parody and, you know,
kind of a freak show,
which I think those of us
who cover North Korea
find a little bit distressing
because it's not actually very funny
to the 24 million people
who live there.
- The price
of such limited information flow
back and forth is
that we perpetuate stereotypes
of a country or a society.
And I think that's the danger,
that's the price that we pay
when we close off a country
or we isolate a country,
like North Korea.
- North Korea local media
reporting that men now
have to wear their hair
just like their leader,
Kim Jong-un.
- So when we hear oh,
everybody has to have
the same haircut,
you think well, you know,
if that was true anywhere
it would probably be true there.
- Haircuts have reportedly
been state-approved
in North Korea for some time.
Men could choose between
10 hairstyles, women 18.
It was mandatory in North Korea
that everybody cut their hair
in 14 different styles.
There are 18 styles.
Of course the women
can chose their own style,
and if the hairstyle they want
is not here,
then they can ask the hairdresser
"I want this, this, this..."
And it's ok.
There isn't any kind of rule saying
you can cut it only this way, no,
it's the Western propaganda
on our country,
it's unacceptable.
I was quite surprised to be asked
that kind of question, you know,
when you first asked
but it's not true, you know?
- I don't accept
that there is propaganda
against North Korea.
There is no democracy
there is no free press,
there is no... whatever bullshit...
frankly speaking.
This is a war.
And in the war
we defend our idea.
- We defend our equality.
- Are we in a propaganda war?
Yeah, that's right.
And I'm proud to be in the forefront
of that propaganda war.
- On Tuesday
a shadowy group of hackers
calling themselves
Guardians of Peace
threatened violence
of 9/11 proportions
against movie theatres
that showed
the Seth Rogen-James Franco
comedy about a plot
to kill North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un.
It's an act of war,
it's a direct insult
and a mockery.
But it's a special mockery
because in this case
they are killing a living leader
which is never allowed or tolerated
in any other country of the world.
And I want to insist on that,
this movie, if Obama took the place
of our leader Kim Jong-un
it will be considered immediately
a terrorist act.
For them it was a supreme,
it was a kind of offense
a serious offense,
because it was a blasphemy.
I hope and I wish
they will lose a lot of money.
It has created enough trouble
in Sony Pictures
but it will not be
as profitable as they thought.
- "The Interview" has become
the most successful online movie
ever to be released
by the studio.
The film raked
in over $15 million
and was downloaded
more than 2 million times.
The children wanted to wave
to the foreign guests.
They were waving
and saying bye bye,
but he took pictures,
and put them in the newspaper
or a magazine,
making the comment that the children
were asking for help.
- We don't get instructions
from the government,
nor from our editors
as to what specifically to do.
That is a common perception,
I know, in China as well.
But, no, I have to clearly say
we are never
an extension of US policies.
In the newspaper there was a photo
where the children
were receiving the scarves.
The explanation
of the photograph said:
"Preparing to be military."
It said that.
It was fake.
It's manipulation.
They use a photograph
and then manipulate the text
around it to generate falseness.
- A rally staged
by the Korean Children's Union,
they pledge allegiance
to the state and get
their red scarves.
They asked us if all the Korean
people were suffering from hunger
if they had nothing to eat,
they said that...
Not at all!
They also spoke about executions,
saying we killed people in public.
- Authorities reportedly
machine-gunned 8 hooded people
in front of a crowd of 10,000
in a sports stadium
in the port city of Wonsan.
Which crimes are committed
in my country against humanity?
Crimes against humanity
in political prison camps,
crimes against humanity
in ordinary prison system,
crimes against humanity
targeting religious believers
and others considered to introduce
subversive influences.
The COI report is totally
and severely distorting
and faking up
our real situation of human rights
in DPRK
by creating political confrontation.
And the reason for those findings
are set out in detail
supported by actual testimony
in each case.
Even the Western mass media
report that
the most probable testimonies
made by defectors
are forced by leading questions.
The guards
were not trained to torture
but to shoot anyone who rebelled
or tried to escape.
We were told that if a war started
we had to kill every prisoner
to erase the evidence.
That was my job.
Torture,
battering on a large scale...
Specially in the prison camps
and in other detention centers
in North Korea.
I think the intelligent person will
see
that all the propaganda
against the DPRK,
all the horror stories
of the concentration camps,
and public executions
have no evidence at all.
And even now,
who used to be the most
representative defectors
of North Korea
are withdrawing their stories.
- It was a symbol of North
Korea's human rights abuses,
but the defector now admits
not everything was true.
- I'm sure there may be
somebody who may have
embellished their story.
But I know there's a lot of
self-policing among the defectors.
Because they know, they know
that the only way this issue
is either going to get the attention
is they are credible.
We wanted to live as humans.
None of our investigations
have been disqualified as false.
We have been criticized
as an organization.
You can find in so many reports,
even in their official budget,
that they are receiving so much
money from governments,
which they are supposed
not to do.
- North Korea says
that universal human
rights is propaganda.
What they call human rights
is the globalization of capitalism.
These organizations are used
to infiltrate other countries
to impose the American way of life
and the American politics.
What they call human rights
is not the human right
to have shelter,
to have food to have water,
to have education;
t's not that.
Because USA is the first country
that never accomplishes
that kind of human rights.
- If you call that propaganda,
I call it universal human rights.
Ideally, if the North Korean
government had nothing to hide,
they should allow the entrance
of international agencies.
That's the point.
You will never open
the door to your house
to a person who has been
insulting your father,
insulting you
and threatening you,
and sanctioning you.
If you don't know something,
if for you the DPRK
is a black hole,
"I don't know
anything about DPRK.
It's such a misterious country.
It's a secret country."
Ok! That's fine! It's true!
It's a secret country
you can say that.
It's a fortress.
We are very much
protecting our system.
Tell me the lie
that angers you the most.
The lie that angers me the most
will be probably
that our Korean people
my comrades,
they are forced
to believe in our system.
Like there was someone,
one soldier with one machine gun
pointing at each one of our citizens,
to force them
to follow our system.
The figure of the leader
is the father.
It's not a dictatorship
like many Western people lie
and believe in that kind
of missinformation.
He is, as a father
giving precious instructions
and giving his life
for the welfare of the people.
And then the people
also show their love to him
by accepting him as a father.
That's why we always
call ourselves family,
even if we are not
from the same family.
But being comrades
and having the same leader...
We help each other,
in everything.
A big community.
Do the people in North Korea
have the same feeling
for the leader Kim Il-sung
as for the others?
We've never thought
our President Kim Il-sung
did much more
and General Kim Jong-il did little.
No, all things are the same
all achievements are great,
and the way he did
is the way the General did
and is the way that
Marshal Kim Jong-un is doing.
So, for Marshal Kim Jong-un
you have the same love as...
Yes, we have the same love
because we...
just lost our beloved fathers...,
so, we even love them
with more passion...
Just thinking of our fathers
you know, it's just...
Later I can explain it.
- Tonight an 11-day period
of mourning is underway
for Kim Jong-il,
the dictator who died Saturday.
And we were struck by images
from inside the Hermit Kingdom
showing grief-stricken
North Koreans in despair,
wailing uncontrollably.
But is all that emotion real
or is there a bit of both?
He is just like a father taking
care,
but not just taking care of a son
he takes care of all society.
He kind of adopted
the whole society.
God cannot die.
Nobody believed it when we were told
the person we considered God
had died.
I could not accept it as truth.
It was very emotional
for the people, everyone was crying.
I cried a lot.
It affected me a lot.
That's why all the people
cry on the streets.
How can it be?
People cannot understand,
Is it a theatre?
It's not a theatre.
This is an insult.
And when you live so far away,
and the culture is so different,
for Western people
it will be hard to understand.
But you cannot really try
to feel the same
that Korean people feel
but you can
by talking to the people,
see that it's a true feeling.
We haven't really gotten
any deep knowledge or understanding
of the philosophy or the ideology.
We get a lot of information
from Alejandro,
very deep thoughts
and very clear theories,
of eveything that lies behind it,
but no North Korean
will tell us anything about it.
So we have to rely
on what Alejandro is telling us,
and at the end
he is not really a North Korean,
even though he has been
coming and going
with foreign visitors
for the last 20 years,
that doesn't make you
a North Korean.
It became a sort of tradition
or custom,
to visit every year
this flower festival.
And you see here
this flower is Kimilsungia.
- This one is Kimilsungia?
- Yes. You didn't know?
Look around the whole festival.
This flower is called after his
name.
It's cultivated in Indonesia.
And the Indonesian president
Sukarno,
he asked our President
Kim Il-sung
to name this flower
after his name
as a sign of respect towards
our Generalissimo Kim Il-sung.
Why wouldn't we be happy today?
Our country
and all the citizens of the world
are celebrating our Great Leader.
One has to understand
the North Korean system
and its propaganda are based
on a strong epic national history.
Its foundation is real
and incredibly strong.
A leader,
especially a kind of absolute leader
in a monarchy,
is usually seen
as a god.
Ideology has always been,
in communist countries,
a substitute for religion.
- They've taken a lot of imagery
from the New Testament.
I think it's part of the reason
that Christianity
is such a taboo in North Korea.
They have their stars
when Kim Jong-il was born
and double rainbows
and all of this.
It's kind of a rip-off of the bible.
- Many cultures in Asia
have that tradition.
It's feudalism, in essence.
The feudal lords ruled over
the subjects basically.
And this is a continuation of that.
Visiting a church was not
on the itinerary,
but I told them I was a Christian
and wanted to attend mass.
After plenty of phone calls,
we finally got permission.
This idea that people have
that people are being executed
for being Christians.
I want to know about this.
Of course,
you can see it by yourself.
So, the traditional religions
in North Korea
are Christian;
Among Christians we have Catholics
like this church;
We have also Protestant church,
and then we have Buddishm
which is also an ancient religion,
and they have their rights;
And they have the Cheondoism
the Cheondogyo,
which is traditional
to the Korean culture.
But our government doesn't allow
new religions
like Scientology
or Jehovah's Witnesses,
religions that, in many cases
are politically influenced,
or carry a heavy weight
in cultural invasion,
rather than just pure philosophy,
are not tolerated in the DPRK.
Inside a state like this,
competitors are not allowed.
Any religion that could work there
should be submitted to the state.
Therefore,
if any political idea that differs
from that of the regime
or any suspicion
that you are not loyal to the regime
is punished,
I don't see why religion
should be any different.
As you know,
freedom of cult dictates
that beliefs cannot be imposed.
Everybody has the right and the
freedom to be a believer or not.
The Westerners
appear to be very virtuous
however they have malice.
They think theirs is religion,
but not ours.
It's contradictory
that now they speak about
our religion in this manner.
After all, they brought
Christianism to North Korea.
This church
was built for this purpose with
the blessing of Pope John Paul II.
Our religions were removed
when the Juche ideology was built.
But there is a church
in Pyongyang
where the regime can assure
the other countries
that we have freedom of religion.
But it's just propaganda,
for foreigners,
not a real church.
Whoy did you not give communion?
We can give communion
but today the priest
wasn't available.
That's why we have celebrated
a mass without Eucharist.
Because, he's not the priest?
- It's a lie.
- There's no freedom of thought,
and there's absolutely
no freedom of religion.
And the fact that they've made
these fake churches
there to try to give
that illusion... it's a lie.
And North Koreans that have escaped
who are Christians
will tell you it is a lie.
Even though they have these...
it's just a fake, pretend thing.
I should have guessed
something was wrong:
This was the only place
in North Korea
where people did not wear
the pin of the leader.
It was also surprising
that everybody sang so well.
Some of my prisoners
were imprisoned
because they were opposed
to the Kim Il-sung system
but a lot of them were imprisoned
because they interacted
with Christianity,
or contacted someone
in South Korea.
Kenneth Bae was sentenced
in April to 15 years in
a labour camp
for what the regime calls
'hostile acts to bring down
the government'.
Wonderful, we have a freedom
of Christianity
but if you try to bring bibles
to our country you are a criminal.
Any contradiction do you see?
There are some people in Christianity,
like in many religions,
that are crazy:
They believe God sent them
for a mission
and that they can go, you know,
and evangelize and bring
the word of Jesus,
according to them,
to all the countries in the world.
This doesn't sound
like a very smart move.
Again, we don't care about what
move!
We don't care about
what USA thinks!
We continue our revolution.
When will you understand
that in this country
we don't care how many sanctions
or how much pressure;
We don't live for the others
we live for ourselves, okay?
So, understand that
no matter how much pressure
no matter how much bad publicity,
we do as we believe.
He is a criminal
he entered illegally in the country,
he tried to undermine our system,
so he was judged and sentenced.
And now it's his time
to pay that sentence.
That's why we don't release him.
That's why no matter
what they offer us,
we are not going to release that
person.
- Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd
Miller, two Americans
who have held in North Korea,
stunning news this morning.
Out of nowhere,
they are coming home.
So I just want to say thank you all
for supporting me, lifting me up,
and not forgetting me.
At the same time also not forgetting
the people of North Korea.
There are some stores where people
can buy with local currency
and some stores where
they use hard currency.
And, this one?
In this one we use hard currency.
And how do North Koreans
get hard currency?
Many ways, for instance,
we go abroad
and when we work
in the embassies
we receive our salaries
in hard currency.
But it seems that this is more aimed
for the local people
than for the tourists...
Why?
Lots of tourists also visit.
- Around the time of the collapse
of the Soviet Block,
North Korea went into something
of a downward spiral.
They were getting a lot of aid
from the former Soviet Union.
Since the collapse of the Soviet
Union
the trade between
Russia and North Korea
dramatically reduced.
- I think the first thing
that happened
is they ran short of energy,
and a lot of the factories closed.
And when the factories closed
they had no money
to buy raw ingredients.
The socialist economic system
of North Korea collapsed.
It was a system
wherein the government
would provide the people
a stipend and food rations
but when the North Korean economy
fell, it ceased to be sustainable.
- They got hungry, productivity
went down, down, down,
and the economy really went
into a death spiral.
- Very large numbers of people
from the 1990s
have starved to death
as a result of the inadequacy
of the response
of the government and authorities
in North Korea to what they call
'the Arduous March',
the great famine of the 1990s.
- People started with
their own ingenuity to find ways
to make money.
They started informal markets,
which were mostly illegal,
but the thing was
they had to feed themselves.
What about this critic that says
there is an underground capitalist
or individually driven economy?
No, not at all.
For instance, you can see
many posts in the street
selling ice cream,
selling water.
It's a sub-branch
of one of our restaurants,
under one of our ministries.
The problem
is that people don't ask.
They just take the picture
and start to speculate and invent,
and specially use for propaganda
against the country,
to try to make us look
like we have a double standard
that on one hand we say
we are socialist or communist
but on the other we allow
these kinds of shops in the street
selling ice cream.
Well, all of them are state-owned.
- Kim Jong-il said repeatedly
markets breed egotism
and egotism is
the death of socialism.
He saw that correctly.
And when the food situation
improved a little,
they tried to close the markets.
But they couldn't close
the markets because
people had started thinking
for themselves.
I never saw any signs
of a black market economy
despite the numerous reports that
claim that the country depends on it.
This cooperative farm
was built in the 1950's
but has been recently restored.
In all our farms we follow
the Juche principle
that we must be self-sufficient.
When Kim Jong-un suddenly
became the leader of the country,
he was surrounded
by his father's officials,
who were very old people
with their ideas of how
the country should be run.
- The next story
is not for the weak of stomach.
A Chinese newspaper says
the uncle of North Korean
leader Kim Jong-un
was eaten alive by a pack
of ravenous dogs
during his execution last year.
The paper says
Kim and his brother observed
the one-hour ordeal,
along with about
300 other officials.
- He was executed
in a very... unusual way.
He was dragged out of the front row
of the Politburo
and taken off to a show trial
before a military tribunal.
Which constantly interrupted
and denounced him,
and he was dead within four days.
- The story about Jang Song-thaek
being fed to the dogs
was actually started
by a Chinese microblogger
who kind of wrote it as a joke,
and then people
repeated it and it became...
you know,
sort of this urban legend
that most people believe.
There's no evidence that Jang
Song-thaek was fed to the dogs.
- Well, it's incredible.
The sad part is
that many people
found it believable.
To the outside world the message
is 'I am in charge.
Don't mistake that anybody else'...
because for many months before
his execution,
people thought that he was
the number two in power.
It was kind of common expectation,
that in a few years' time,
Kim Jong-un would remove
dignitaries and top officials
from his father's era,
and would replace them with young
or at least different people.
This is exactly what happened.
Nobody thought that
it would happen so fast
and in such a dramatic manner.
Sometimes it's the king
who gets killed,
but more frequently
it's the regent.
A wicked political careerist,
trickster and traitor of all ages,
Jang Song-thaek was condemned
in the name of the Revolution
and the People.
Until then, we thought of him
as a patriot,
as the most loyal person
to our Generalissimo.
That's why all the Korean people
were shocked
at this news.
So we thought that
he would be near our Marshal,
assist him in many affairs,
but, it was so sudden for us
to find out his treachery.
It's not only treachery
to our Generalissimo
to our Marshal Kim Jong-un,
it's treachery to the whole
Korean people.
So that's why we couldn't
be patient about it.
- Were you angry?
- Yes, of course.
- Everybody?
- Everybody.
When we went to the North Korean TV
to get archive footage,
they told us they needed to erase
the traitor Jang Song-thaek first.
Some people have mentioned that
he was corrupted by the Chinese.
Have you heard about this?
- Yeah, I think that's
the indirect accusation.
- The uncle is believed
to be an advocate
of Chinese style reform.
His uncle has been
very instrumental in pursuing
relations with China,
including trade
and economic ties with China.
When Mao died the Chinese Government
made a huge decision,
they reformed the old system
and tried something new.
A major feature
of the new system was
to introduce more market
based mechanism into the old system.
China gradually realized
that private economy
is very important for China.
China also made this reform
that communist society countries
can allow the private economy
to serve for these countries.
China changed!
Mao was betrayed
by their own comrades!
Stalin was betrayed
by their own comrades!
Vietnam, a country
that suffered so much
under U.S. invasion
is now a full capitalist country!
So, could it happen tomorrow
to North Korea? Yes.
They are humans also.
One day, the poison of capitalism
could enter this country,
in 50 or 100 years.
How come
a Coca-Cola
sign got into North Korea?
Oh, really?
Oh!
Yes, yes.
This has an easy explanation.
Normally, we don't have enough
fridges by national production,
so we import them from China.
And then, from China
it comes already branded like that.
Someone like that is always useful.
It is such a closed regime,
that now have found someone
who facilitates for them
coming in and out.
Obviously there is money involved,
he facilitates the entrance
of hard currency...
We still have many problems.
We know that.
We are working on that
I myself play my role,
to try to improve it
by bringing more foreign investment,
bringing more technology,
and teaching our state companies
how to be more efficient.
So we are at the University,
which seems brand new.
Everything is just
like out of the box.
And curiously, all of the computers
are Hewlett-Packard.
- And where did you buy this?
- That's a secret.
That's a secret.
Otherwise Americans will know
how we go around the blockade.
The blockade is useless.
Useless embargo.
He is a fantastic tool
for propaganda.
He is a Westerner who goes there,
who puts on his uniform
with all his medals,
and he sings to Kim Jong-il,
he sings to Kim Il-sung,
And he knows it by heart...
He's a great asset!
You know, I have been living during
the times of the Arduous March.
I came to the Motherland, I know
what was our situation
back then, in the '90s.
So hard,
we didn't have anything.
But, after witnessing
the transformation of the Republic
under our Marshal Kim Jong-un,
I was so surprised.
These centres, our Republic
are becoming the envy of the world.
So if we show them in DPRK,
how is this country,
they want to live like in DPRK.
When I go to talk
to the universities, in Spain,
many times to give a conference,
more than 500 people,
600 people come to hear me
and then I talk.
Why and how we develop
our socialist system.
And they become very interested
and followers
of our great leaders.
So we could say that DPRK
is becoming
the centre of the world.
You are really lucky!
He dresses as Superman,
he acts like Superman,
he believes he is Superman,
but he isn't.
That's it. That's Alejandro.
- Today he made it.
- Beautiful.
- Thank you.
- Very nice.
I still have so many questions...
Who benefits from the status quo?
What will the future bring
for these people?
And again
where is the money coming from?
- People always ask me
why North Korea still exists,
and I think it exists because
nobody wants it to collapse.
The Chinese keep it going
because they like
having a communist ally buffer zone
on their border.
The Chinese policy
consists of maintaining
its complicated
North Korean ally alive.
- Making North Korea reliant
on China helps China keep
that Korea card in their hands.
America, you need me
to deal with North Korea.
China's main priority
is the development of its country
the last thing they need
is conflict.
- It's also destabilizing
for China to be worrying
about a nuclear North Korea.
The Chinese do not want
the regime to fall,
because they don't want to have
American soldiers at their border.
- I believe that they fear
that having a unified Korea
will harm China.
But it won't.
It will actually be
a benefit to China.
Because they won't have
to worry about
this dictatorship that they're
constantly having to bail out,
that who knows
what Kim Jong-un is going to do.
So I think the Chinese Government
have lots of frustration
about what is going on
in North Korea.
- And, in a way, that's part
of the China-US kind of rivalry
in the region.
It's not ready to give this away
we want something in return.
China is the enemy
of the United States.
And what the U.S. want is obviously
to maintain its position in Asia
and that part of the Pacific,
and not to have
their power contested.
United States is probably
the only pro-unification country.
But I would not bet on that
because if the country is unified
it would be difficult to justify
the presence
of the U.S. forces in Korea.
The United States
can continue to sell weapons
to South Korea and to Japan.
Russia doesn't want a unified Korea,
which would strengthen
the American position in the region.
Let's assume a unified Korea
will be essentially
an enlarged version of South Korea.
- The Japanese keep it going
because they are afraid
of the economic and military power
of a united Korea.
South Korea doesn't want unification
because they'll have to pay for it.
And it's going to be absolutely,
unbelievably expensive.
- If the North Korean regime
collapses,
you're talking about the billions
of dollars it's going to cost
the South Korean economy.
And it kind of scares South Koreans.
But the longer they're separated,
the longer
this continues, the greater
that cost is going to be.
Of all the major international
players,
the majority wants status quo.
- I think the only ones
who really want it
to collapse
are the North Korean people.
They do want it to collapse.
But they don't have much say
in the matter.
- You're talking here about
23 million people
who are suffering
and have suffered for 65 years
and more grievous crimes
against humanity.
The victims of the status quo
are the vast majority
of the North Koreans
however who does care about them?
Nobody.
Propaganda serves
as a diversion from the truth,
we are all victims of propaganda.
The Governments and the Media
are constantly submitting us
to manipulation
and the only tool
we have against it is information.
But the truth is...
It's hard to tell what is the truth,
and I don't think we'll ever know.
But whether we like it or not,
whether we know it or not,
we are all part of the game.
North Korea is indescribable
no humans deserve to be oppressed
just because of their birthplace.
We need to focus less on the regime
and more on the people
who are being forgotten.
One Young World,
we are the ones
who will make them visible.
Now we want to take
everyone to North Korea.
We have an unprecedented
investigation by
the United Nations taking us
inside a kind of hell.
- It's mad and sad and bad
and silly all in the same time.
- Most tours go to North Korea
with very low expectations.
Because everybody
watches the documentaries,
reads the news, and so on.
And even if 90 percent of
what they learn is not true,
at least it's something
they've looked into.
Because everybody knows
North Korea is an unusual place.
Everybody knows they do things
differently to everyone else.
What we ignore
is that there is life
for 24 million people there.
- The regime seeks
to dominate every aspect
of its citizens' lives
and terrorizes them from within.
We don't have much awareness
of the Western mentality,
of how they perceive
the Koreans from outside
from the rest of the world.
- For the outside world
it's sort of a freak show.
That's part of the fascination
with North Korea.
There aren't that many real
mysteries left in the world,
and this is a closed,
mysterious place.
Due to the U.S. hostile policy
to our Korea,
they try to isolate and,
you know,
stifle our country,
consistently threaten our people.
- The situation in North Korea
is extremely grave.
The country
is a totalitarian regime.
It is a regime
that doesn't respect
the universal human rights
of its citizens.
- Amnesty International,
which has been investigating
human rights violations
for the last 50 years,
we find North Korea to be
in a category of its own.
There's a severe food crisis.
Freedom of expression,
freedom of speech,
freedom of association
is severely curtailed.
- Torture, rape, forced
abortion, and execution.
- Just unprecedented
crimes against humanity.
And the world
can't close its eyes to that
and pretend it's not there just
because there's a nuclear problem.
- Pyongyang warns
an explosion is imminent,
and war could break out
today or tomorrow.
- North Korea does not
and will not benefit
from violating international law.
- How concerned should we be?
- How dangerous is the situation?
- This is how wars start.
- Threats of terror-like violence
and another premiere cancelled.
- We cannot have a society
in which some dictator someplace
can start imposing censorship
here in the United States.
Because if somebody is able
to intimidate folks
out of releasing
a satirical movie,
imagine what they'd start doing
when they see
a documentary
that they don't like.
We honor, we honor
to the highest degree
our Great Leader Kim Jong-un
we honor to the highest degree.
We honor, we honor
to the highest degree
our Great Leader Kim Jong-un.
We honor to the highest degree.
North Korea is known
as the Hermit Kingdom,
and there is a reason for this.
It is almost impossible to get in,
especially with a camera.
Over the centuries, Korea
has been invaded more than 100 times
by its powerful neighbors
China and Japan.
Today, it remains the last
stronghold of communism.
My name is Alvaro Longoria.
I am a filmmaker from Spain.
For many years, I have been rather
fascinated by North Korea.
Probably like you, I have wondered:
Is everything we read and hear
about North Korea really true?
Over the next days,
is my quest to seek out the truth.
After many failed attempts
to get into the country,
I heard about Alejandro,
the only foreigner who works
for the government of North Korea.
I contacted him through Facebook
and a year later, we were officially
invited into the country.
Sponsored by Alejandro,
and provided we followed
their strict rules,
we would be granted
privileged access.
We were put
on a predetermined itinerary
and could not leave
the hotel alone.
At all times we were accompanied
by our Korean guides.
In theory, we were allowed to
interview anybody we wanted.
- Korea is a small country
thousands of miles away.
But what is happening there is
important to every American.
- A highly trained and well-equipped
North Korean army
swarmed across the 38th parallel
to attack
unprepared South Korean defenders.
- The scene was set for a war
between North and South.
With the North supplied
by China with tacet backing
from the Soviet Union.
And the South supported
by the United States and its allies.
- The cost was high to Americans
who bore the brunt
under the UN banner.
Here they faced an enemy who
ruthlessly slaughtered prisoners,
many with their arms bound.
- First films
of the ceremonies at Panmunjom
that end 3 years
of bitter, costly conflict.
The bulky agreement spells out
in minutest detail
every provision of the truce.
The ceasefire is good news
to the men at the front,
but it is almost sombre here.
Every UN member present
knows that the big problems
remain to be solved, even
if the enemy acts in good faith.
But there is hope.
A big step forward has been taken.
The armistice becomes official.
The fighting is over.
Prisoners will be exchanged,
but there is little rejoicing.
The Cold War is on, and the
Free World wonders what next.
On day one, we headed
to the South Korean border,
the most militarized
in the world,
wrongly named the
"Demilitarized Zone".
In the 200 km highway
from Pyongyang,
we only saw one car,
a couple of bicycles and a bus.
Until September of 1945,
when the U.S. occupied South Korea,
the 38th parallel marked the division
between the North and the South.
The intention of the U.S.
when they occupied South Korea,
was to provoke a war
with North Korea
and to keep advancing to the north of
the country to rule over all of Asia.
This is the division of the country
that was made back then
and has remained untouched
causing misery and distress
for more than half a century.
Around this line there is
an area of 4 km called
the "Demilitarized Zone".
Panmunjom is the most
unstable place in the world
where 2 nations at war are not
separated by a physical border.
The Demilitarized Zone
was not what we expected.
This is probably the most
dangerous place in the world.
At the moment that's what they say
the most heavily militarized...
But here it's very peaceful,
on our side.
On our side it looks very relaxed.
To be honest, we were expecting
something much more...
Except for the clapping.
Over there, that's South Korea
and those blue buildings
are the border.
This place is strange and it feels
like a tourist attraction.
This is the only place
where we can cross
from the North to the South.
This room has been the setting
for approximately 12,000 meetings
since the end of the war
until March of 1991.
The purpose of these meetings was
to denounce the acts of provocation
and the violations of the conditions
of the armistice by the U.S.
Since the end of the war until 1991,
more than 815,000 infractions
have been registered
committed by the U.S. government.
The violation of the conditions
of the armistice
has caused that, at any time, nuclear
war could break out in Korea.
In order to preserve peace
in Korea and in the World,
we need to design a new system
that can assure peace
between us and the U.S.
But the U.S. keeps doing
military tests
and every year they increase
the deployment of nuclear weapons
in South Korea.
Our victory is not recognized
by the U.S.
and doesn't appear in their books.
We do not know
how it will be taught in the future.
Documents, they showed
how the war was prepared
by the North Koreans.
Evidence from the
Russian and Chinese archives
was published 20 years ago,
but most North Koreans
still believe
the war was initiated
by the Americans.
When I was in North Korea.
I was taught that America
started the Korean War
but when I came to South Korea
and studied the history,
I realized that
it was actually North Korea
that first attacked South Korea.
We always explain the Korean War
was started by the U.S.
although there was
a fight going on
because our guerillas
led by President Kim Il-sung,
liberated the Northern half
while the U.S. was advancing
from the South.
Then they collided and there were
many skirmishes and fighting.
Even if the Americans
recognize their wrongdoing,
we won't let them
enter our country,
nor will we let them
sign this treaty.
In school we are taught
that the United States
is the cause
of our economic hardship
and the reason why
our lives are so difficult.
That is why the North Koreans
believe the U.S. is to blame
for their mortification
and their dissatisfaction.
It is all the fault
of the United States.
We cannot live like enemies forever.
Some people change their policies,
or apologize for the past
but, speaking of Americans
they never did.
Imperialists are still...
they didn't throw away
their policy.
They're sanctioning
and stifling ours.
So defending our country,
of course, that matter comes first.
Military force is very important,
so we are enforcing
Songun politics
even in present times.
"Army first" politics.
It means a country
without a powerful army
cannot survive.
It will be always dependent
on the big superpowers.
The principle
of the Songun revolution
is that the army is the party,
the nation and the people.
This means the party
can only subsist and prosper
thanks to the military forces.
Songun is a statement by
the North Korean Government.
The soldiers are the most
progressive class in the society,
who is playing the leading role
in defining its political line.
These statements however are
completely unrelated to reality,
it's just the rhetoric exercise
by the professional ideologues.
Korea spends 16% of its GDP
on the military.
This is huge,
considering the economic situation
where there is widespread
hunger and poverty.
However,
given the geographic location,
Korea needs to keep up
this investment
as they have to be prepared
for war at any moment.
- North Korea, the secretive nation
with its mysterious
young dictator,
announcing they will test their
nuclear power,
a rocket big enough
and with enough range
to reach the west coast
of the United States.
May represent
the most advanced technology
we've ever seen
come out of North Korea.
- It's terrifying.
- So thrilled was this country
by their rocket launch
fireworks ripped through the sky.
North Korean newscasters
announced the successful launch
with ecstasy.
The launch has been a success!
We are always
on the verge of nuclear war.
The U.S. is allowed to have
the highest amount
of nuclear weapons.
We cannot afford
to be unprotected.
North Korea aims
for the nuclear bomb
since the 90s,
because, until then,
it has been protected
by the soviet nuclear umbrella.
And this is something that the
Western media always forget:
Korea has always been
under the threat
of the Western nuclear weapon
always.
We are forced
you can understand it,
when they are organizing
a sort of big campaign,
a military campaign,
and execute military rehearsals
every year
in front of our nose,
we can't stay with folded arms
we have to do
our part of the job.
This is self-defense, definitely.
- These are among
the biggest simulated battles
staged anywhere in the world.
And, on occasion,
these exercises have provoked
a violent reaction from the North.
Sometimes the North
has held its own exercises
determined to show
its military might.
On other occasions,
the bombardment has been real.
It's much more interesting
to analyze
the "menace"
that North Korea represents
for the rest of the world.
It's a country
that has never invaded others,
whose army is basically made of
junk.
It's like comparing
a space station
with a toaster.
- It's not a joke.
It's a country
with the fourth largest
standing army in the world.
It's a country
which is armed to the teeth
with 20 nuclear warheads
and with an increasingly
sophisticated missile delivery
system.
If we didn't protect ourselves,
if we weren't strong,
we would succumb
to the menace of imperialism.
Armed robbery
has to be answered with weapons.
A powerful army needs to be prepared
to overthrow the imperialist invader.
It's a credible argument,
It's not a crazy idea of the Kims',
to get nuclear weapons,
it is a matter of survival.
Based on what happened
to Saddam Hussein
after they did engage
in some disarmament,
so the North Koreans
feel that the only thing
that's protecting them
is their nuclear weapons.
Do you think if you didn't have
the nuclear weapon
you would have been invaded?
Most probably, yes.
Only by building a powerful
and nuclear deterrence force
we can stop the bullying
and the threats from the U.S.
My dream has always been
to be a member
of our Korean People's Army
since I was so young.
I could say that I am born in Spain,
I am born Spanish
but adopted North Korean.
The way he speaks
about our country,
the way he appreciates our country,
is very much valued
by our people.
They like him.
And sometimes,
in the streets,
some Koreans recognize him.
"Oh, hello, I saw you before!",
and "I am so happy to meet you!"
like that.
There are a lot of sympathizers.
But it is not often
that someone goes as far
as to be willing
to give his life for us,
like Alejandro.
When I was 16,
I had my first encounter
with the minister Li Jong Gun
and he instructed me
on what the country really means
and this was my first relationship
with a North Korean friend.
He had seen my potential
and he told me:
"Alejandro, you cannot waste
your capacity, your knowledge,
as a soldier of the People's Army.
We have millions of soldiers.
But we don't have anyone
who understands,
who's been born into capitalism,
and who can act as a bridge
between both cultures,
between both ideologies.
Our party, our country,
needs you outside."
He was like a mentor to Alejandro.
He told me once:
"Your son is the number one Korean."
It was a surprise for us.
We knew very little
about the country.
So you are influenced by the ideas,
the news, everything you hear.
It affects you.
So, we were somehow...
not afraid,
but we felt we needed
to act with caution
and we told him to be very aware
and to take precaution.
He had an interest in communism,
he was looking
for that model society,
a society that distributed
the riches among all citizens,
that was fair,
because he hadn't found one.
So when he was a member
of political parties
like Izquierda Unida,
or the Communist Party
he realized that
the ideas were beautiful,
but the people in charge
were
selfish,
ambitious,
and that clashed
with his personality
so he kept looking.
The way to reach
the socialist paradise
depends on our Great Leader
Kim Jong-il.
Long live our Great Leader
Kim Jong-il!
Long live the DPRK!
Where are you taking us now?
We are going to the Mansu bronze
statues of our Great Leaders,
President Kim Il-sung and
our Generalissimo Kim Jong-il.
We are going to present a flower
bouquet as a symbol of respect
for April 15th,
which is the birthday anniversary
of President Kim Il-sung.
Everybody can buy flowers
and offer them
as a symbol of respect
for his work and dedication
for the revolution.
That's a tradition.
In all national holidays,
even when you marry, to come
and pay respect to our leaders
because, more than anything,
the leaders are our fathers.
We are part of a big family,
and, in that family
the figures of the leaders
are like the fathers
of the full society.
Our hearts are full of respect
for our leaders.
We come here often,
as if this were our own house,
to thank them.
We North Koreans feel very proud
of having leaders
that the whole world admires.
Good morning, sir.
- I'm Alejandro, the Spanish soldier.
- He's a soldier of our General.
He is doing a great job
making relations for our country.
Yes, my General.
So is he a veteran from the war?
He fought in the revolution war.
I went to the river Nakdong.
Then I fought with
the Chinese People's Army.
I hope in my life
to follow his footsteps
and also give my life
for the motherland
and preserving socialism
and our Great Leaders.
We feel very, very proud
and we feel very strong.
We have the motivation
to fight against imperialism.
And they won't be able to attack us,
we are a very strong country.
I am 82 years old.
Thanks to Great Leader Kim Jong-il
and to Kim Jong-un
veterans like me
enjoy many benefits
from the government.
For example, we have a house,
but there are many other things.
We have a special card
for medical assistance
and we receive all kinds
of treatments and care.
We also have access to limited food,
like some vegetables.
In general we enjoy many
commodities.
Life in this country
as opposed to capitalism,
is guaranteed for all the people.
Housing, medical service,
education in the university
food, clothing,
whatever you need in the daily life
is provided, guaranteed for free.
All the necessary daily necessities
we get from the government.
We don't pay taxes,
we don't pay for the houses...
Under the wise leadership
of our Marshal Kim Jong-un,
the economy of our country
is developing step by step.
As you may see, in Pyongyang there
are many new apartment houses
and new museums and many recreation
places for the people.
Not only in Pyongyang
but also in the countryside,
we are constructing amenities
facilities and many places
which is conducive to improving
the livelihood of the people.
Our Great Leader
Comrade Kim Jong-il
first defended the country
and then created the foundation
on which we can
improve our economy.
So, are you happy?
Yes.
Ok, so here is the main building
of the War Museum.
As you see here the museum
consists of three floors.
And you see this is a statue
of the Great Leader President
Kim Il-sung,
who defeated two imperialisms
in one generation.
As you know he defeated
the Japanese army and the Americans.
And here we'll make a line
and we'll make a bow to our Great
Leader President Kim Il-sung.
We were alone there,
despite the fact that it's Sunday
and it should be full.
It's hard to understand why that is.
Maybe it's only the military
that go there,
maybe it's not open for regular
people... We don't know.
It's nearly built, now.
There were many specialists,
designers...
But I am sure
Marshal Kim Jong-un
instructed it
from the start to the end.
This panorama is an oil painting,
it's 15 metres high
and 132 metres long
and 42 meters diameter.
Also it's only 13.5 metres away
from your seat to the picture
but you can see more than
40 kilometres away from the picture.
So, watching this,
are you proud?
Yes, very proud.
The Korean people can visit here
and they can experience
how the Korean People's Army
have fought against the invaders.
Now we can take the route
of Marshal Kim Jong-un.
Did he...
use the machines?
That's the one.
Muscle development machine used
by our esteemed Supreme Leader
Kim Jong-un.
When our respected Marshal
Comrade Kim Jong-un
was looking around this,
it was not a slide, there was a
step.
But he told us, very wisely
if there is a step, people will get
hurt, by the sharp edges,
and he told our construction workers
to change this into a slide.
Socialist hamburgers
hot dogs, chicken wings...
Not the American McDonald's.
Not American
communist state products.
For the first time in five days,
we are alone.
It's amazing...
Oh, here they come.
This building was built
only last year
so this is the most updated
and modern.
Very luxury.
Watching U.S. movies is prohibited,
strangely, Disney's "Brave"
was playing on the TV.
This building has 300 apartments
and they are all the same.
They are presents from Kim Jong-un
to teachers for spreading his word.
Can you ask her
to show us the fridge?
What is she cooking for tonight?
She is too shy.
We never saw the fridge.
One question that keeps on
coming back to my mind is:
Where is the money coming from?
Lots of new constructions...
Lots of new stuff like this
I mean, this is not a set.
Would you say that living conditions
have improved?
Not only my family,
but all Korean people are happy
to lead such happy, civilized lives
and we are enjoying
this updated amusement park,
so we are happy.
After only 5 days in Pyongyang,
the constant propaganda
was starting to work.
With enough time
maybe even I could be convinced.
What does he do?
I was in the army
but now I have entered university.
So after the army
he went to university.
What is he studying?
Locomotive driver.
What is his aspiration in life?
His dream? His goal?
My dream?
I want to be a locomotive driver
to work for my Great Leader.
- There's a system in North Korea
called songbun.
And it's a ranking
by your loyalty
to the leadership.
And people are divided
into a core class
of those who are considered
the party members
and the real supporters
of the regime.
And then there's a wavering class
in the middle, the vast middle,
and then the undesirables
at the bottom.
And where you live,
what kind of job you have,
where you go to school,
that's based on your class.
There are three free benefits
in North Korea:
Free housing, free medical care
and free education.
Although there is free medical
care, there is no medicine to cure,
and with free housing you cannot
choose where you want to live
and with free education you have
to learn the ideology of the regime
even if you don't want to.
We salute him
when we go to school
and we salute him again
when we go back home.
He is the one
who loves us the most
us, the children.
Our father, General Kim Jong-il.
- North Koreans are brainwashed
from the minute they're born.
Almost the first thing
they learn to say is
"thank you, dear leader."
He is the one who loves us the most,
us, the children.
Our father, General Kim Jong-il.
Our father, General Kim Jong-il.
First it's education,
obviously it's very important,
since you are a kid,
that you grow up
and you learn to live
according to the ideology
to the communism.
Then, of course,
the education provided
not only by professors or teachers
but the mass media
or televisions, newspapers and so on
work on human values
and try to make the people better
in their daily lives.
We think that everything
that appears in the film,
all the workers and all the people,
must collaborate
in benefit of the people.
Propaganda can also be used
as a means of education
to contribute to the culture
of our citizens.
- Kim Jong-il was
very involved in film.
He wrote a book called Kim Jong-il
on The Art of Cinema
explaining how film
could be used to instill
patriotism in the masses.
They certainly recognize
the role of domestic propaganda.
The idea Juche,
created by Kim Il-sung,
was developed by Kim Jong-il.
It establishes the principle
that if we leave everything
in the hands of society,
the latter can decide everything.
It's a concept
that cannot be compared
to any other ideology of the past
or the teachings of Confucius.
- It probably began
in the idealism of a kind of
communism, but also
a kind of nationalism
and romantic historicism.
- It kind of started out
as kind of a humanistic
approach to philosophy,
a humanistic idea
that man was
the centre of the universe,
that man could go accomplish
all of his problems.
And it became...
Like Kim Jong-il as the worship
of the dear leader,
it really became
a way to control.
It's an ideology
that intends to combine.
Marxism Leninism,
the ideas of Mao Zedong
and religion.
Of course, to make
a combination of all
that you need to make it
so nobody can understand it.
If no one can understand it,
no one will protest against it.
It basically says
man is the master of all things.
And everything has to be done
in a peculiar way
which is suitable
for this current situation.
Wonderful.
Such a great philosophical
discovery.
And if you look at what North
Koreans write about Juche
you see it's a platitude
after platitude.
Juche ideology in North Korea
is like the Bible in Christianity,
it's like words from God,
so North Koreans have to believe
the Juche ideology
without any questions.
What they need to do
is to learn it by heart.
They know it,
and they can recite it,
like the Quran
or the Bible.
"I don't understand this."
No one dares,
much less so
in a country like Korea.
You don't understand it?
North Koreans
don't understand it either.
I had a strict education.
If I didn't believe
what I was being taught,
I was punished.
I can basically say.
Juche is nothing.
Because you can basically
summarize Marxism
but you cannot summarize Juche.
Is this clear?
Could you summarize, briefly
what the Juche idea is?
Are you a specialist in philosophy?
No, I try to understand.
The best explanation
is to see our reality.
It's better to know our country than
to listen to me a hundred times.
It's better to see our reality
than to listen to my words.
What you see here is
three huge doors,
metallic, that will close
in the event of a U.S. attack.
One, two and three
will be completely sealed
from the exterior, you see?
All these frames?
In case of attack,
everything is ready to use the
underground transportation system
to move the people
and shelter hundreds of thousands.
Maybe him?
Or all of them
at the same time?
Him?
Good morning, sir.
He is a director from Spain.
- It's a pleasure.
- The same.
He would like to ask you
some questions.
In many countries
especially in the Western world,
people are very impressed
with the love and reverence
of the Korean people as one family
united around their leader.
They cannot understand
the power of that unity.
What would you say
to those people,
in other countries of the world
that don't understand?
How can there be
such a single-minded unity?
I cannot think of a specific way
to explain it to the people
who don't understand us.
But if they came here,
if they saw the reality,
maybe they could understand us.
That would be worth
a thousand words.
It would be much more convincing.
What he says is true:
f you don't come,
if you don't see it,
if you don't ask the people,
you'll never believe it.
That is the strength of Korea.
- Most foreigners
have never met a North Korean.
Most North Koreans
have never met a foreigner.
The view that we have of them
is very negative.
The view they have of us
is even more negative.
- Where are you from?
- Spain.
Do you know where Spain is?
Why are you here in DPRK?
Because we want to know
how people live here.
We are very happy.
Are they as happy as we are?
Do they have a president?
In Spain are there also
people who love children?
All kids like you like football.
What is your favorite
Spanish league team?
- Koreo!
- No, Spanish league.
Barcelona!
Me, Atltico de Madrid.
Is it better and more beautiful
than here?
Some parts are similar
but this country is very beautiful.
So many foreigners
when they first come to our country,
they are just, you could say
surprised, at the realities.
When they come and see this
they say: "This is wonderful."
When they come here
and they see the Korean people
wearing different dresses
they say:
"Wow, when I was abroad,
there was a propaganda that said
that Korean people had to wear
only one uniform,
you know, just like
one clothing, with no differences...
I think
foreigners need to come here
and see the reality.
- I understand
that especially with North Korea,
you've got so much misinformation
and so little information.
It's not so much misinformation,
I feel that any scrap of information
that the West gets,
it's like, well, they did this,
let's make a story out of it.
And there's no information on it.
- When there's a vacuum,
it's easy to create
and make it believable.
Sometimes they are created
as a parody,
and it still rings true.
Why, because we just know
so little about the country.
North Korea is an unimaginable
country.
There is only one TV channel.
There is no Internet.
We aren't free to sing, say,
wear or think what we want.
North Korea is the only country
in the world,
that executes people,
for making unauthorized
international phone calls.
- The North Korean government
has announced
that it found a unicorn.
- Ah, foreigners are funny.
- A unicorn is a mythical creature
that the Greeks
first mentioned,
but it's in North Korea.
Now my question to you
is if you were
a unicorn, you would go
to North Korea, right?
I mean that's the only place
you'd want to be is there.
- But everything's like
that with North Korea.
It's always an exaggeration
and a parody and, you know,
kind of a freak show,
which I think those of us
who cover North Korea
find a little bit distressing
because it's not actually very funny
to the 24 million people
who live there.
- The price
of such limited information flow
back and forth is
that we perpetuate stereotypes
of a country or a society.
And I think that's the danger,
that's the price that we pay
when we close off a country
or we isolate a country,
like North Korea.
- North Korea local media
reporting that men now
have to wear their hair
just like their leader,
Kim Jong-un.
- So when we hear oh,
everybody has to have
the same haircut,
you think well, you know,
if that was true anywhere
it would probably be true there.
- Haircuts have reportedly
been state-approved
in North Korea for some time.
Men could choose between
10 hairstyles, women 18.
It was mandatory in North Korea
that everybody cut their hair
in 14 different styles.
There are 18 styles.
Of course the women
can chose their own style,
and if the hairstyle they want
is not here,
then they can ask the hairdresser
"I want this, this, this..."
And it's ok.
There isn't any kind of rule saying
you can cut it only this way, no,
it's the Western propaganda
on our country,
it's unacceptable.
I was quite surprised to be asked
that kind of question, you know,
when you first asked
but it's not true, you know?
- I don't accept
that there is propaganda
against North Korea.
There is no democracy
there is no free press,
there is no... whatever bullshit...
frankly speaking.
This is a war.
And in the war
we defend our idea.
- We defend our equality.
- Are we in a propaganda war?
Yeah, that's right.
And I'm proud to be in the forefront
of that propaganda war.
- On Tuesday
a shadowy group of hackers
calling themselves
Guardians of Peace
threatened violence
of 9/11 proportions
against movie theatres
that showed
the Seth Rogen-James Franco
comedy about a plot
to kill North Korean leader
Kim Jong-un.
It's an act of war,
it's a direct insult
and a mockery.
But it's a special mockery
because in this case
they are killing a living leader
which is never allowed or tolerated
in any other country of the world.
And I want to insist on that,
this movie, if Obama took the place
of our leader Kim Jong-un
it will be considered immediately
a terrorist act.
For them it was a supreme,
it was a kind of offense
a serious offense,
because it was a blasphemy.
I hope and I wish
they will lose a lot of money.
It has created enough trouble
in Sony Pictures
but it will not be
as profitable as they thought.
- "The Interview" has become
the most successful online movie
ever to be released
by the studio.
The film raked
in over $15 million
and was downloaded
more than 2 million times.
The children wanted to wave
to the foreign guests.
They were waving
and saying bye bye,
but he took pictures,
and put them in the newspaper
or a magazine,
making the comment that the children
were asking for help.
- We don't get instructions
from the government,
nor from our editors
as to what specifically to do.
That is a common perception,
I know, in China as well.
But, no, I have to clearly say
we are never
an extension of US policies.
In the newspaper there was a photo
where the children
were receiving the scarves.
The explanation
of the photograph said:
"Preparing to be military."
It said that.
It was fake.
It's manipulation.
They use a photograph
and then manipulate the text
around it to generate falseness.
- A rally staged
by the Korean Children's Union,
they pledge allegiance
to the state and get
their red scarves.
They asked us if all the Korean
people were suffering from hunger
if they had nothing to eat,
they said that...
Not at all!
They also spoke about executions,
saying we killed people in public.
- Authorities reportedly
machine-gunned 8 hooded people
in front of a crowd of 10,000
in a sports stadium
in the port city of Wonsan.
Which crimes are committed
in my country against humanity?
Crimes against humanity
in political prison camps,
crimes against humanity
in ordinary prison system,
crimes against humanity
targeting religious believers
and others considered to introduce
subversive influences.
The COI report is totally
and severely distorting
and faking up
our real situation of human rights
in DPRK
by creating political confrontation.
And the reason for those findings
are set out in detail
supported by actual testimony
in each case.
Even the Western mass media
report that
the most probable testimonies
made by defectors
are forced by leading questions.
The guards
were not trained to torture
but to shoot anyone who rebelled
or tried to escape.
We were told that if a war started
we had to kill every prisoner
to erase the evidence.
That was my job.
Torture,
battering on a large scale...
Specially in the prison camps
and in other detention centers
in North Korea.
I think the intelligent person will
see
that all the propaganda
against the DPRK,
all the horror stories
of the concentration camps,
and public executions
have no evidence at all.
And even now,
who used to be the most
representative defectors
of North Korea
are withdrawing their stories.
- It was a symbol of North
Korea's human rights abuses,
but the defector now admits
not everything was true.
- I'm sure there may be
somebody who may have
embellished their story.
But I know there's a lot of
self-policing among the defectors.
Because they know, they know
that the only way this issue
is either going to get the attention
is they are credible.
We wanted to live as humans.
None of our investigations
have been disqualified as false.
We have been criticized
as an organization.
You can find in so many reports,
even in their official budget,
that they are receiving so much
money from governments,
which they are supposed
not to do.
- North Korea says
that universal human
rights is propaganda.
What they call human rights
is the globalization of capitalism.
These organizations are used
to infiltrate other countries
to impose the American way of life
and the American politics.
What they call human rights
is not the human right
to have shelter,
to have food to have water,
to have education;
t's not that.
Because USA is the first country
that never accomplishes
that kind of human rights.
- If you call that propaganda,
I call it universal human rights.
Ideally, if the North Korean
government had nothing to hide,
they should allow the entrance
of international agencies.
That's the point.
You will never open
the door to your house
to a person who has been
insulting your father,
insulting you
and threatening you,
and sanctioning you.
If you don't know something,
if for you the DPRK
is a black hole,
"I don't know
anything about DPRK.
It's such a misterious country.
It's a secret country."
Ok! That's fine! It's true!
It's a secret country
you can say that.
It's a fortress.
We are very much
protecting our system.
Tell me the lie
that angers you the most.
The lie that angers me the most
will be probably
that our Korean people
my comrades,
they are forced
to believe in our system.
Like there was someone,
one soldier with one machine gun
pointing at each one of our citizens,
to force them
to follow our system.
The figure of the leader
is the father.
It's not a dictatorship
like many Western people lie
and believe in that kind
of missinformation.
He is, as a father
giving precious instructions
and giving his life
for the welfare of the people.
And then the people
also show their love to him
by accepting him as a father.
That's why we always
call ourselves family,
even if we are not
from the same family.
But being comrades
and having the same leader...
We help each other,
in everything.
A big community.
Do the people in North Korea
have the same feeling
for the leader Kim Il-sung
as for the others?
We've never thought
our President Kim Il-sung
did much more
and General Kim Jong-il did little.
No, all things are the same
all achievements are great,
and the way he did
is the way the General did
and is the way that
Marshal Kim Jong-un is doing.
So, for Marshal Kim Jong-un
you have the same love as...
Yes, we have the same love
because we...
just lost our beloved fathers...,
so, we even love them
with more passion...
Just thinking of our fathers
you know, it's just...
Later I can explain it.
- Tonight an 11-day period
of mourning is underway
for Kim Jong-il,
the dictator who died Saturday.
And we were struck by images
from inside the Hermit Kingdom
showing grief-stricken
North Koreans in despair,
wailing uncontrollably.
But is all that emotion real
or is there a bit of both?
He is just like a father taking
care,
but not just taking care of a son
he takes care of all society.
He kind of adopted
the whole society.
God cannot die.
Nobody believed it when we were told
the person we considered God
had died.
I could not accept it as truth.
It was very emotional
for the people, everyone was crying.
I cried a lot.
It affected me a lot.
That's why all the people
cry on the streets.
How can it be?
People cannot understand,
Is it a theatre?
It's not a theatre.
This is an insult.
And when you live so far away,
and the culture is so different,
for Western people
it will be hard to understand.
But you cannot really try
to feel the same
that Korean people feel
but you can
by talking to the people,
see that it's a true feeling.
We haven't really gotten
any deep knowledge or understanding
of the philosophy or the ideology.
We get a lot of information
from Alejandro,
very deep thoughts
and very clear theories,
of eveything that lies behind it,
but no North Korean
will tell us anything about it.
So we have to rely
on what Alejandro is telling us,
and at the end
he is not really a North Korean,
even though he has been
coming and going
with foreign visitors
for the last 20 years,
that doesn't make you
a North Korean.
It became a sort of tradition
or custom,
to visit every year
this flower festival.
And you see here
this flower is Kimilsungia.
- This one is Kimilsungia?
- Yes. You didn't know?
Look around the whole festival.
This flower is called after his
name.
It's cultivated in Indonesia.
And the Indonesian president
Sukarno,
he asked our President
Kim Il-sung
to name this flower
after his name
as a sign of respect towards
our Generalissimo Kim Il-sung.
Why wouldn't we be happy today?
Our country
and all the citizens of the world
are celebrating our Great Leader.
One has to understand
the North Korean system
and its propaganda are based
on a strong epic national history.
Its foundation is real
and incredibly strong.
A leader,
especially a kind of absolute leader
in a monarchy,
is usually seen
as a god.
Ideology has always been,
in communist countries,
a substitute for religion.
- They've taken a lot of imagery
from the New Testament.
I think it's part of the reason
that Christianity
is such a taboo in North Korea.
They have their stars
when Kim Jong-il was born
and double rainbows
and all of this.
It's kind of a rip-off of the bible.
- Many cultures in Asia
have that tradition.
It's feudalism, in essence.
The feudal lords ruled over
the subjects basically.
And this is a continuation of that.
Visiting a church was not
on the itinerary,
but I told them I was a Christian
and wanted to attend mass.
After plenty of phone calls,
we finally got permission.
This idea that people have
that people are being executed
for being Christians.
I want to know about this.
Of course,
you can see it by yourself.
So, the traditional religions
in North Korea
are Christian;
Among Christians we have Catholics
like this church;
We have also Protestant church,
and then we have Buddishm
which is also an ancient religion,
and they have their rights;
And they have the Cheondoism
the Cheondogyo,
which is traditional
to the Korean culture.
But our government doesn't allow
new religions
like Scientology
or Jehovah's Witnesses,
religions that, in many cases
are politically influenced,
or carry a heavy weight
in cultural invasion,
rather than just pure philosophy,
are not tolerated in the DPRK.
Inside a state like this,
competitors are not allowed.
Any religion that could work there
should be submitted to the state.
Therefore,
if any political idea that differs
from that of the regime
or any suspicion
that you are not loyal to the regime
is punished,
I don't see why religion
should be any different.
As you know,
freedom of cult dictates
that beliefs cannot be imposed.
Everybody has the right and the
freedom to be a believer or not.
The Westerners
appear to be very virtuous
however they have malice.
They think theirs is religion,
but not ours.
It's contradictory
that now they speak about
our religion in this manner.
After all, they brought
Christianism to North Korea.
This church
was built for this purpose with
the blessing of Pope John Paul II.
Our religions were removed
when the Juche ideology was built.
But there is a church
in Pyongyang
where the regime can assure
the other countries
that we have freedom of religion.
But it's just propaganda,
for foreigners,
not a real church.
Whoy did you not give communion?
We can give communion
but today the priest
wasn't available.
That's why we have celebrated
a mass without Eucharist.
Because, he's not the priest?
- It's a lie.
- There's no freedom of thought,
and there's absolutely
no freedom of religion.
And the fact that they've made
these fake churches
there to try to give
that illusion... it's a lie.
And North Koreans that have escaped
who are Christians
will tell you it is a lie.
Even though they have these...
it's just a fake, pretend thing.
I should have guessed
something was wrong:
This was the only place
in North Korea
where people did not wear
the pin of the leader.
It was also surprising
that everybody sang so well.
Some of my prisoners
were imprisoned
because they were opposed
to the Kim Il-sung system
but a lot of them were imprisoned
because they interacted
with Christianity,
or contacted someone
in South Korea.
Kenneth Bae was sentenced
in April to 15 years in
a labour camp
for what the regime calls
'hostile acts to bring down
the government'.
Wonderful, we have a freedom
of Christianity
but if you try to bring bibles
to our country you are a criminal.
Any contradiction do you see?
There are some people in Christianity,
like in many religions,
that are crazy:
They believe God sent them
for a mission
and that they can go, you know,
and evangelize and bring
the word of Jesus,
according to them,
to all the countries in the world.
This doesn't sound
like a very smart move.
Again, we don't care about what
move!
We don't care about
what USA thinks!
We continue our revolution.
When will you understand
that in this country
we don't care how many sanctions
or how much pressure;
We don't live for the others
we live for ourselves, okay?
So, understand that
no matter how much pressure
no matter how much bad publicity,
we do as we believe.
He is a criminal
he entered illegally in the country,
he tried to undermine our system,
so he was judged and sentenced.
And now it's his time
to pay that sentence.
That's why we don't release him.
That's why no matter
what they offer us,
we are not going to release that
person.
- Kenneth Bae and Matthew Todd
Miller, two Americans
who have held in North Korea,
stunning news this morning.
Out of nowhere,
they are coming home.
So I just want to say thank you all
for supporting me, lifting me up,
and not forgetting me.
At the same time also not forgetting
the people of North Korea.
There are some stores where people
can buy with local currency
and some stores where
they use hard currency.
And, this one?
In this one we use hard currency.
And how do North Koreans
get hard currency?
Many ways, for instance,
we go abroad
and when we work
in the embassies
we receive our salaries
in hard currency.
But it seems that this is more aimed
for the local people
than for the tourists...
Why?
Lots of tourists also visit.
- Around the time of the collapse
of the Soviet Block,
North Korea went into something
of a downward spiral.
They were getting a lot of aid
from the former Soviet Union.
Since the collapse of the Soviet
Union
the trade between
Russia and North Korea
dramatically reduced.
- I think the first thing
that happened
is they ran short of energy,
and a lot of the factories closed.
And when the factories closed
they had no money
to buy raw ingredients.
The socialist economic system
of North Korea collapsed.
It was a system
wherein the government
would provide the people
a stipend and food rations
but when the North Korean economy
fell, it ceased to be sustainable.
- They got hungry, productivity
went down, down, down,
and the economy really went
into a death spiral.
- Very large numbers of people
from the 1990s
have starved to death
as a result of the inadequacy
of the response
of the government and authorities
in North Korea to what they call
'the Arduous March',
the great famine of the 1990s.
- People started with
their own ingenuity to find ways
to make money.
They started informal markets,
which were mostly illegal,
but the thing was
they had to feed themselves.
What about this critic that says
there is an underground capitalist
or individually driven economy?
No, not at all.
For instance, you can see
many posts in the street
selling ice cream,
selling water.
It's a sub-branch
of one of our restaurants,
under one of our ministries.
The problem
is that people don't ask.
They just take the picture
and start to speculate and invent,
and specially use for propaganda
against the country,
to try to make us look
like we have a double standard
that on one hand we say
we are socialist or communist
but on the other we allow
these kinds of shops in the street
selling ice cream.
Well, all of them are state-owned.
- Kim Jong-il said repeatedly
markets breed egotism
and egotism is
the death of socialism.
He saw that correctly.
And when the food situation
improved a little,
they tried to close the markets.
But they couldn't close
the markets because
people had started thinking
for themselves.
I never saw any signs
of a black market economy
despite the numerous reports that
claim that the country depends on it.
This cooperative farm
was built in the 1950's
but has been recently restored.
In all our farms we follow
the Juche principle
that we must be self-sufficient.
When Kim Jong-un suddenly
became the leader of the country,
he was surrounded
by his father's officials,
who were very old people
with their ideas of how
the country should be run.
- The next story
is not for the weak of stomach.
A Chinese newspaper says
the uncle of North Korean
leader Kim Jong-un
was eaten alive by a pack
of ravenous dogs
during his execution last year.
The paper says
Kim and his brother observed
the one-hour ordeal,
along with about
300 other officials.
- He was executed
in a very... unusual way.
He was dragged out of the front row
of the Politburo
and taken off to a show trial
before a military tribunal.
Which constantly interrupted
and denounced him,
and he was dead within four days.
- The story about Jang Song-thaek
being fed to the dogs
was actually started
by a Chinese microblogger
who kind of wrote it as a joke,
and then people
repeated it and it became...
you know,
sort of this urban legend
that most people believe.
There's no evidence that Jang
Song-thaek was fed to the dogs.
- Well, it's incredible.
The sad part is
that many people
found it believable.
To the outside world the message
is 'I am in charge.
Don't mistake that anybody else'...
because for many months before
his execution,
people thought that he was
the number two in power.
It was kind of common expectation,
that in a few years' time,
Kim Jong-un would remove
dignitaries and top officials
from his father's era,
and would replace them with young
or at least different people.
This is exactly what happened.
Nobody thought that
it would happen so fast
and in such a dramatic manner.
Sometimes it's the king
who gets killed,
but more frequently
it's the regent.
A wicked political careerist,
trickster and traitor of all ages,
Jang Song-thaek was condemned
in the name of the Revolution
and the People.
Until then, we thought of him
as a patriot,
as the most loyal person
to our Generalissimo.
That's why all the Korean people
were shocked
at this news.
So we thought that
he would be near our Marshal,
assist him in many affairs,
but, it was so sudden for us
to find out his treachery.
It's not only treachery
to our Generalissimo
to our Marshal Kim Jong-un,
it's treachery to the whole
Korean people.
So that's why we couldn't
be patient about it.
- Were you angry?
- Yes, of course.
- Everybody?
- Everybody.
When we went to the North Korean TV
to get archive footage,
they told us they needed to erase
the traitor Jang Song-thaek first.
Some people have mentioned that
he was corrupted by the Chinese.
Have you heard about this?
- Yeah, I think that's
the indirect accusation.
- The uncle is believed
to be an advocate
of Chinese style reform.
His uncle has been
very instrumental in pursuing
relations with China,
including trade
and economic ties with China.
When Mao died the Chinese Government
made a huge decision,
they reformed the old system
and tried something new.
A major feature
of the new system was
to introduce more market
based mechanism into the old system.
China gradually realized
that private economy
is very important for China.
China also made this reform
that communist society countries
can allow the private economy
to serve for these countries.
China changed!
Mao was betrayed
by their own comrades!
Stalin was betrayed
by their own comrades!
Vietnam, a country
that suffered so much
under U.S. invasion
is now a full capitalist country!
So, could it happen tomorrow
to North Korea? Yes.
They are humans also.
One day, the poison of capitalism
could enter this country,
in 50 or 100 years.
How come
a Coca-Cola
sign got into North Korea?
Oh, really?
Oh!
Yes, yes.
This has an easy explanation.
Normally, we don't have enough
fridges by national production,
so we import them from China.
And then, from China
it comes already branded like that.
Someone like that is always useful.
It is such a closed regime,
that now have found someone
who facilitates for them
coming in and out.
Obviously there is money involved,
he facilitates the entrance
of hard currency...
We still have many problems.
We know that.
We are working on that
I myself play my role,
to try to improve it
by bringing more foreign investment,
bringing more technology,
and teaching our state companies
how to be more efficient.
So we are at the University,
which seems brand new.
Everything is just
like out of the box.
And curiously, all of the computers
are Hewlett-Packard.
- And where did you buy this?
- That's a secret.
That's a secret.
Otherwise Americans will know
how we go around the blockade.
The blockade is useless.
Useless embargo.
He is a fantastic tool
for propaganda.
He is a Westerner who goes there,
who puts on his uniform
with all his medals,
and he sings to Kim Jong-il,
he sings to Kim Il-sung,
And he knows it by heart...
He's a great asset!
You know, I have been living during
the times of the Arduous March.
I came to the Motherland, I know
what was our situation
back then, in the '90s.
So hard,
we didn't have anything.
But, after witnessing
the transformation of the Republic
under our Marshal Kim Jong-un,
I was so surprised.
These centres, our Republic
are becoming the envy of the world.
So if we show them in DPRK,
how is this country,
they want to live like in DPRK.
When I go to talk
to the universities, in Spain,
many times to give a conference,
more than 500 people,
600 people come to hear me
and then I talk.
Why and how we develop
our socialist system.
And they become very interested
and followers
of our great leaders.
So we could say that DPRK
is becoming
the centre of the world.
You are really lucky!
He dresses as Superman,
he acts like Superman,
he believes he is Superman,
but he isn't.
That's it. That's Alejandro.
- Today he made it.
- Beautiful.
- Thank you.
- Very nice.
I still have so many questions...
Who benefits from the status quo?
What will the future bring
for these people?
And again
where is the money coming from?
- People always ask me
why North Korea still exists,
and I think it exists because
nobody wants it to collapse.
The Chinese keep it going
because they like
having a communist ally buffer zone
on their border.
The Chinese policy
consists of maintaining
its complicated
North Korean ally alive.
- Making North Korea reliant
on China helps China keep
that Korea card in their hands.
America, you need me
to deal with North Korea.
China's main priority
is the development of its country
the last thing they need
is conflict.
- It's also destabilizing
for China to be worrying
about a nuclear North Korea.
The Chinese do not want
the regime to fall,
because they don't want to have
American soldiers at their border.
- I believe that they fear
that having a unified Korea
will harm China.
But it won't.
It will actually be
a benefit to China.
Because they won't have
to worry about
this dictatorship that they're
constantly having to bail out,
that who knows
what Kim Jong-un is going to do.
So I think the Chinese Government
have lots of frustration
about what is going on
in North Korea.
- And, in a way, that's part
of the China-US kind of rivalry
in the region.
It's not ready to give this away
we want something in return.
China is the enemy
of the United States.
And what the U.S. want is obviously
to maintain its position in Asia
and that part of the Pacific,
and not to have
their power contested.
United States is probably
the only pro-unification country.
But I would not bet on that
because if the country is unified
it would be difficult to justify
the presence
of the U.S. forces in Korea.
The United States
can continue to sell weapons
to South Korea and to Japan.
Russia doesn't want a unified Korea,
which would strengthen
the American position in the region.
Let's assume a unified Korea
will be essentially
an enlarged version of South Korea.
- The Japanese keep it going
because they are afraid
of the economic and military power
of a united Korea.
South Korea doesn't want unification
because they'll have to pay for it.
And it's going to be absolutely,
unbelievably expensive.
- If the North Korean regime
collapses,
you're talking about the billions
of dollars it's going to cost
the South Korean economy.
And it kind of scares South Koreans.
But the longer they're separated,
the longer
this continues, the greater
that cost is going to be.
Of all the major international
players,
the majority wants status quo.
- I think the only ones
who really want it
to collapse
are the North Korean people.
They do want it to collapse.
But they don't have much say
in the matter.
- You're talking here about
23 million people
who are suffering
and have suffered for 65 years
and more grievous crimes
against humanity.
The victims of the status quo
are the vast majority
of the North Koreans
however who does care about them?
Nobody.
Propaganda serves
as a diversion from the truth,
we are all victims of propaganda.
The Governments and the Media
are constantly submitting us
to manipulation
and the only tool
we have against it is information.
But the truth is...
It's hard to tell what is the truth,
and I don't think we'll ever know.
But whether we like it or not,
whether we know it or not,
we are all part of the game.
North Korea is indescribable
no humans deserve to be oppressed
just because of their birthplace.
We need to focus less on the regime
and more on the people
who are being forgotten.
One Young World,
we are the ones
who will make them visible.