Nuclear Nightmare: Understanding North Korea on the Discovery Channel is pretty good. It goes into the history of Korea -starting at the end of WW2 and the end of a 35 year Japanese occupation.
It was at this time that America occupied Japan but was unprepared (i.e. had no plan) to occupy Korea. Russia moved in and occupied the peninsula.
Kim il Sung was a leader known for his guerrilla war against the Japanese. The documentary talks about his life and how he was able to use Confucian culture to prop up his regime.
His son Kim Jong il was named successor and got his start in the propaganda wing of North Korea.
Apparently, he was dissatisfied by North Korean actresses and decided to kidnap his favorite South Korean actress Choe Eun Hee and her film producer-husband Shin Sang Ok.
The movie has many interviews and is pretty good -overall. Here is a synopsis from a website selling it on DVD:
Quote:
Meet Kim Jong II, leader of North Korea - a nation imprisoned by poverty and with a population so hungry, people eat bugs and grass. Now this megalomaniacal dictator is holding the civilized world hostage with what many see as a cunning strategy of extortion, threatening to develop an arsenal of nuclear weapons. It's a strategy by which the United States has indicated it cannot abide.
In a joint production between the Discovery Channel and the New York Times, go behind the headlines to discover the little-understood origins and almost-stranger-than-truth facets of this dangerous confrontation. See a side of Kim Jong Il rarely revealed - his love of slasher flicks and his affinity for prostitutes - and learn why the United States may have no other palatable option than to play ball with Kim, allowing him to continue his weapons development program. It's quite literally a race against time - if North Korea, as it promises, goes into nuclear production mode, giving Kim as many as 10 nuclear bombs within six months, it would create a destabilizing offensive nuclear capability that could touch off a regional arms race...and even nuclear war. It's a game of international intrigue and high-stakes military strategy. But more importantly, it's the story of destitute North Korea and its bizarre leader, and how he has brought the U.S. and the world face-to-face with the unimaginable.
|
http://www.avagifts.com/n/Nuclear_Vi..._DVD_49762.htm