A former CNN journalist who worked in South Korea during the 1990s is working on a new documentary about Japanese invasion into the Korean Peninsula 500 years ago.
Keiko Bang, 44, has embarked on The Imjinwaeran (the Japanese invasion on Korea in the Imjin Year, 1592) documentary. “That war was the second largest in Asia after the WWII. It literally changed the historical direction in the region,” JoongAng Ilbo cited her as saying on Friday.
Her goal of delineating the sensitive history on a film is as complex as her own background. She is a Japanese American who is married to a Korean man. “Ethnically, I am Japanese. But I grew up in the United States. And I am married to a Korean husband. So, I am confident that I can do a fair job of objectively showing the history.”
She inherited her interest in Korea from her father, who had particularly loved songs by the Korean singer, Patti Kim. “On weekends, my father played her songs. And I often woke up, listening to the Korean music.” Influenced by her father, Bang first visited Korea in 1984 and spent a summer at the Ewha Womans University in Seoul and gradually shaped her destiny as a “Korea expert.”
Bang’s idea of the Imjinwaeran is something that she has been brainstorming for the last 15 years, she said. “This will be the first documentary on the war, made by a foreigner.”
She previously produced Discovery Channel’s popular “Hip Korea ― Seoul vibes,” a documentary about Jung Ji-hoon (aka, the pop star Rain) and modern Korean pop culture.
In the new war documentary, she is particularly interested in admiral Lee Sun-shin (or Yi Sun-sin), a Korean naval commander, well known for his ingenious use of the “turtle ship.”
“Admiral Lee is an attractive figure. But he is not very well known outside Korea. I want to introduce him to the world through the documentary,” she said.
Her promising project has drawn keen interest from around the world and broadcasters in France, the U.S., Germany as well as South Korea already made pre-contracts with her for the rights to air the documentary.
Her focus throughout the documentary is to recreate the history as truthful as possible. “The key here is to gain credibility,” she said. To make it possible, she hopes to film part of the documentary in North Korea for the sections where the battle was carried out in today’s North Korean territory. “It wont’ be easy.”
Having known Korea for many years and living with a Korean husband, she disagrees with the common perception by foreigners to describe the nation as the “Land of Morning Calm.”
“I disagree. Korea is a dynamic place where interesting and even extreme situations occur.”