Russian documentary unveils N. Korea's grim reality

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

Thu, November 30, 2023 | 12:25

Posted : 2016-04-03 13:10

Updated : 2016-04-03 18:03

Captured scenes from the documentary. / Courtesy of A-List Entertainment

By Park Si-soo

A Russian documentary that peels off the sugar-coated cover of destitute North Korea will be screened in South Korea despite opposition from Russia and the North.

"Under the Sun" will open in domestic theaters on April 27. Vitali Mansky produced the 90-minute film, according to A-List Entertainment, which is handling the documentary's domestic release.

Mansky got North Korea's permission to make a documentary about North Korea with the support of the Russian government.

Then he was introduced to a girl named Jin-mi, 8, who was supposed to perform at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's birthday party.

Her family looked better off ― she lived in a clean and spacious house in Pyongyang, eating nutritionally balanced food and receiving quality education at a public school.

But the director soon realized that her life had been sugar-coated and decided to explore deeper, often secretly. The reality he encountered was shockingly different from that which he observed through the camera.

He confirmed that Jin-mi's family had been forced to move to the modernized house before he began to film. One irony he found while filming was that Jin-mi's family had nutritionally perfect meals at home, but he could not find any essential cooking equipment in the kitchen.

The Russian also discovered many other contradictions, and realized that North Korean authorities put him in sugar-coated settings to prevent the grim truth about people's lives from being filmed.

The director spent a year in Pyongyang making the documentary, according to the distributor.

pss@ktimes.com