Facts and rumors in N. Korea

By Andrei Lankov

So, the world media recently treated us with a gruesome story: the prominent North Korean singer, Hyon Song-wol, as well as a number of other North Korean actors and actresses, was reportedly executed for her involvement with the clandestine production of pornographic movies.

It has been frequently added that the poor girl was a former girlfriend of Supreme Leader Marshall Kim Jong-un, so her death looks even more tragic (and, of course, there is a hint that Kim's current paramour, Yi Sol-ju is somehow behind the incident).

So, should we feel pity about the sorry fate of a girl who allegedly took her freedom of expression a bit too far? Should we once again condemn the Pyongyang tyrants and lament the treacherous nature of Pyongyang court politics? Well, perhaps, not. There are very good reasons to believe that the above-mentioned tragedy never happened ― even though we cannot be absolutely sure.

Many parts of the story sound strange indeed. If the group produced pornography for sale, as claimed, and if Hyon in her natural state was present on screen, the producers had to be quite stupid, since the face of Hyon is well known to the average North Korean (think, say, of her being a North Korean version of Angelina Jolie).

So, her involvement with such activities would be impossible to hide, and everybody in North Korea knows that involvement with pornography is deadly dangerous. Well, people sometimes act stupidly, but such level of imprudence seems to be exceptional.

Another question is: how the supposed porno-production ring was going to benefit from their alleged illicit activities? They could not rely on the protection of copyright laws, and North Korea is not known for its network of "adult shops." They themselves would be able to sell directly only a very limited number of copies, so the money were not going to be good at all (and risks would be very, very high). So, it would not be viable commercially.

The story becomes even less plausible if we notice that some of the (allegedly) executed actors and actresses were also found in the possession of Bibles. While the Holy Script is banned in North Korea (outside few officially approved churches, that is), the combination appears to be somewhat strange. Who are the victims, after all: entrepreneurial pornographic producers or Christian zealots?

But how did the world media learn about the alleged incident? It was through some unnamed defectors in China who first relayed the story to a South Korean journalist. This is the usual way how stories about North Korea's political elite become known outside the country.

In the last decades we have heard a number of such stories, which were in most cases eventually proven to be wrong. The ''sources" told about mutinies, arrests, conspiracies and executions, some of which were real, no doubt, but many more never actually happened. Nonetheless, it took months and years before claims could be refuted. Since these particular sources always have to remain unnamed (understandably), and since their sensationalist reports tend to be forgotten in weeks, the price of failure in this rumor-making business is very low.

North Korean elite, including its artistic elite, lives remarkably isolated and opaque lives. This often makes the outside world remarkably credulous when it comes to such wild stories. There is a big difference between Pyongyang and other capitals of the former Communist bloc. In, say, Moscow or Warsaw of the 1960s, foreigners could soon learn the rumors about local scandals, even if the press remained silent. This is not the case in North Korea, though.

Does this mean that the story of Hyon's sudden demise should be dismissed completely and unconditionally? Well, not exactly. There have been seen cases when somewhat similar rumors were eventually confirmed. There have been also a small number of cases when in due time we learned that rumors did contain some seeds of truth ― usually, mixed with fantasies and exaggerations.

Therefore, one cannot completely rule out that something bad did happen to Hyon. Her trouble ― if it occurred, of course ― might be related to pornography, or Bible reading, or to countless other reasons. We just cannot know for sure.

Nonetheless, my bet still is that in near future we are going to see the allegedly executed actress on North Korean television, happily singing another song about the unsurpassable greatness of the Kim family.

Prof. Andrei Lankov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and now teaches at Kookmin University in Seoul. You can reach him at anlankov@yahoo.com.

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