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AN UNPRECEDENTED LOOK INTO NORTH KOREAN LIFE



"Korea" promo"Korea" 7:39 minute movie


A quiet revolution is beginning to emerge in North Korea. The one-hour documentary North Korea: Desperate or Deceptive probes into this closed society like never before to examine its changing social, political and economic landscape. Although fearful of change, North Korea is resigned to the fact that without adapting, change will ultimately invade and possibly defeat the regime. North Korea: Desperate or Deceptive Deceptive was broadcast on the Global Television Network, as well as PBS Newshour, CNN International and TV 2 in Holland.

       

Canadian journalist Martin Himel profiles a military officer who defends the need for a nuclear armed military at the expense of economical development. Himel takes an unprecedented tour of hospitals and schools that lack the fundamental basics to provide health care and education and meets a man who escaped from the Gulag to South Korea. The documentary features candid interviews with doctors, teachers, principals and students who talk openly about the terrible problems. The documentary also takes a rare look into the arts and discovers a much more human side of North Korean life.

Private limited markets and the development of huge industrial zones are smashing the facade of the monolithic North Korean state seen marching through central Pyongyang year after year. While experimenting with the Chinese model of change, North Korea does not want to evaporate like East Germany, and many in South Korea do not want to have the burden of a West Germany. Gradual change through intensive investments is preferable to many in the South and the North.

But is North Korea changing out of desperation or deception? While burdened economically, its Gulag prison camps still flourish. It is also arming with nuclear weapons.

North Korea: Desperate or Deceptive? is produced by Elsash Productions and directed and written by Martin Himel. He has covered the Mideast for more than 20 years and has reported for Global National as well as CTV, CBC, FOX and ABC.

 
ELSASH PRODUCTIONS LTD.     45 St. Clair Avenue West, Suite 1400 Toronto, Ontario M4V 1L3, Canada     Tel: (416) 800 9224