{"id":4814,"date":"2012-05-03T15:05:44","date_gmt":"2012-05-03T19:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/?p=3103"},"modified":"2012-05-03T15:05:44","modified_gmt":"2012-05-03T19:05:44","slug":"not-so-nice-north-korea-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4814","title":{"rendered":"Not-so-nice North Korea: Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_3104\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 156px\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/KimJongUn_pix_b.gif\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3104\" title=\"KimJongUn_pix_b\" src=\"http:\/\/mondomark.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/KimJongUn_pix_b.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"146\" height=\"151\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">&#39;I wonder what would happen if I press the blue button instead of the red one&#8230;&#39;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>This post sort of got lost in the shuffle of the past month,  so here&#8217;s Part 1 of Not-so-nice North Korea, a series that&#8217;ll focus on  documentaries and available films from \/ about the hermit kingdom \/ wackyland  where at present nuclear warheads are controlled by a 29 year old destined to  develop the same bad hair as his father.<\/p>\n<p>The first film in this series is Patty Kim and Chris  Sheridan&#8217;s superb documentary <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/dvd_reviews\/a\/3810_AbductionMegumiYokotaStory.htm\">Abduction:  The Megumi Yokota Story<\/a><\/strong> [<a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4285\">M<\/a>]  (2006), one of the most dramatic docs I\u2019ve ever seen. The story of an abducted  Japanese teen by North Korean spies may be largely unknown in North   America, but hat\u2019s just a small piece of a larger story which  unfolds like a gripping novel, except the tragedies and cruelties are horribly  real. Absolutely devastating, and worth tracking down on DVD.<\/p>\n<p>Related (in a more surreal way) is <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/dvd_reviews\/p2r\/3811_Pulgasari.htm\">Pulgasari \/ aka Bulgasari<\/a><\/strong> [<a href=\"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=4333\">M<\/a>] (1985), the North\u2019s attempt to  create grand propaganda via a Godzilla knock-off using Japanese designed  special effects, and an actress &amp; director kidnapped from South Korea. Not  a good film, but a good bad one for its sheer weirdness \u2013 onscreen and  behing-the-scenes. The film was released on VHS years ago but hasn\u2019t popped up  in a clean DVD, although there is a copy floating around in YouTube. Wonder if  the North still give the film play on TV, or have buried it as a failed attempt  to create commercial propaganda.<\/p>\n<p>The next week will yield odd waves of updates as I uploaded  DVD, soundtrack, and film festival reviews, but the <strong>Francophrenia<\/strong> capsule review will be up shortly, along with other  stuff.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Mark R. Hasan<\/strong>,  Editor<br \/>\n<strong>KQEK.com <\/strong>(  <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/Main_Index_Page.htm\">Main Site<\/a> \/ <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php\">Mobile Site<\/a> )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First in a series focusing on documentaries and the few North Korean films (from or about) that have been released, starting with Patty Kim and Chris Sheridan&#8217;s superb documentary Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story (2006), and Pulgasari \/ akak Bulgasari (1985), reportedly the most expensive film made by the North, and directed by a kidnapped South Korean director.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[1090,1093,1086,1091,1279,4212],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-1fE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4814"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4814\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}