'The Spy Gone North'

By Stephen Costello

“The Spy Gone North,” the new movie by director Yoon Jong-bin, is slow-moving and lacks the shock and awe of almost any other film of this type. It is absolutely riveting, however, if one lived through the 1990s connected in any way to the politics and policies of South Korea.

I found myself worrying during the screening at the Woodrow Wilson Center near the White House in Washington, D.C. Would this audience hang on to the end? They must be interested in the Korean or U.S. policy implications, or in the security dimensions of the story. But it was unlikely that they cared as much as I did about this slice of history. Or so I thought.

But they did hang on. To the end. That may be one of the great achievements of the director, cinematographer and actors ― to pull an audience with widely differing interests all the way through a drama with complex political, ideological and historical messages. After all, some were not yet born in 1992. No shootings, no car chases, no sex.

But wow. Even acknowledging deviations from the real record, this movie shines a light on realities barely touched on by journalists and scholars in the U.S. The events Yoon describes happened only 20 to 25 years ago, yet they remain relevant to the very recent history of Korea.

From the corruption in conservative administrations (both former presidents are now in jail) to the military skirmishes along the border and in the seas (Yeonpyeong Island and the Cheonan), to the elections of 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017. There have been echoes of the story in “The Spy Gone North” for two decades.

Of course, to all of these recurring themes must be added the most breathtaking of all ― the dramatic, rapid and determined actions by South and North Korea in the past year to break their cold, dangerous stalemate and begin to reconnect.

As we open the paper each morning to follow events, one of the deepest questions we are left with is: As we look back to 1992-2017 through the eyes of the “Black Venus,” what has changed; and what has remained the same?

Like the vast majority of people who work in politics, policy analysis or journalism, I did not have the opportunity to directly impact events.

But I was lucky to know Kim Dae-jung during the 1990s, to get a feel for the dynamics, personalities and realities of the Korean political world, and to be involved on the periphery of three Korean presidential elections and one Nobel Peace Prize. Through this film, the election of Kim in December 1997 is put in context, in a way that is rare and useful for everyone.

Audiences would be lucky if director Yoon were to make another movie, this one to cover the next chapter, 1998 to 2003. He would not have to base this one on the perspective from a shadowy character. He could use instead a book by a master soldier, anti-communist and diplomat, Lim Dong-won: peacemaker. That book has it all, and probably more opportunities for you-can't-make-this-up scenes of drama, elation, sadness, and insight.

In the best case, President Moon Jae-in is working to complete enough of a South-North rapprochement that his term will provide director Yoon with the perfect subject for the third and final part of his master trilogy. After all, don't we want to see how he would cast Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un, Kim Yo-jong and Ri Sol-ju, Mike Pence and Mike Pompeo. And of course, Hyon Song-wol.

It is easy to see corruption as a sad and regular aspect of governments, whether they are old or new, communist or democratic.

There are reasons to be cynical about the ability of any system to deliver a relatively smart and transparent leadership. Living in Washington today, I think I can say this. The problem with such cynicism is that it cannot explain some of the most groundbreaking advances we have seen in the past two decades.

American efforts ― along with those by South and North Koreans ― to bridge differences during the period between the Korean War and Kim Dae-jung's election are well-covered in Don Oberdorfer's seminal book, “The Two Koreas.”

South Korea's achievements during the late 1990s to bridge South-North differences and begin to cooperate, including the 2000 summit, also defies the doubters. Those achievements changed the history of the peninsula forever.

The best answer to cynicism about government may be the massive candlelight demonstrations across Korea in the winter of 2016-17. Peaceful civic action on that scale has rarely ever been seen.

Koreans now can stand a bit straighter, a bit taller. The cautious, risk-averse President Moon Jae-in must often see those demonstrators over his shoulder, or in the mirror, urging him to do more, reach farther. If so, then that's probably a good thing.

For its contemporary relevance alone, let's hope “The Spy Gone North” becomes a very popular film.

Stephen Costello (scost55@gmail.com) is a producer of AsiaEast, a web and broadcast-based policy roundtable focused on security, development and politics in Northeast Asia. He writes from Washington, D.C.