This Director Was Kidnapped and Forced to Make Movies in North Korea

How This Director and Actress Were Kidnapped by North Korea to Movies 

In the late 1970s, Shin Sang-ok was a household name in South Korean cinema, known for his massive box office hits and pumping out lots of projects that people loved.

However, his thriving career came to an abrupt halt in 1978 when his studio was shut down by the government, thanks to censorship.

That was a shame, because many of his movies had a cultural impact, some beyond even what he thought they could.

Across country lines, in North Korea, a young Kim Jong-il, not yet the supreme leader, but a passionate film nerd. And he was plotting to revolutionize his country’s film industry from the ground up.

Of course, even though his country wasn’t allowed to watch movies from the outside…he was.

Kim Jong-il wanted to make his own Hollywood in North Korea.

But they just needed some talented directors and actors to build the foundation for his beloved industry.

Kim Jong-il’s audacious plan began with the kidnapping of Choi Eun-hee, Shin’s ex-wife, and a famous actress in South Korea.

Jong-il lured her to Hong Kong with the promise of starring in a new project with a fake businessman, and then she was abducted and taken to a luxurious but heavily guarded villa in Pyongyang.

Choi Eun-hee was not allowed to leave, but they left her in the villa, guarded at all times, to live while they rounded up some directors for her.

Six months later, Shin, searching for his ex-wife, was also kidnapped in Hong Kong and brought to North Korea to make movies with her.

They initially treated him like a VIP, but after several escape attempts, they actually imprisoned him.

He stayed in prison and then was forced to watch North Korean propaganda over and over.

After four years, in 1983, Shin was released and reunited with Choi at a dinner party hosted by none other than Kim Jong-il himself.

Neither of them even knew the other one was there!

It was then that the dictator revealed his grand plan: they were to create films for him, with Shin as the director and Choi as the star.

At Kim Jong-il’s suggestion, they even remarried.

Again, this actually happened.

Under Kim Jong-il’s patronage, their new film studio flourished. The two of them started working hard on these movies. They employed over 700 people and produced several films, including the now-infamous monster movie, Pulgasari.

This is a crazy situation with Kim Jong-il being the executive producer of all of the movies they made.

But despite their success, the couple wanted to be free.

It turns out, eight years in captivity is pretty awful.

So, together they plot their escape. In 1986, during a business trip to Vienna, they saw their chance.

In a daring escape, they evaded their North Korean guards, hailed a taxi, and, after a dramatic chase, sought political asylum at the U.S. embassy.

But the taxi hit traffic, and the two of them had to get out and run to the U.S. embassy, where America took them in, and they were free.

Enraged by their escape, Kim Jong-il banned their films and falsely accused them of theft. And he banned their movies in North Korea.

Shin and Choi eventually settled in the United States, where Shin, in a surprising turn of events, went on to direct some of the amazing Three Ninjas movies in the 1990s.

And Shin and Choi also stayed together as a couple through all this…which is kind of romantic.

Their incredible story serves as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable circumstances.

I am also shocked we don’t have a movie about this at all!