Pulgasari - Eat, Stomp, and Send Mixed Allegorical Messages

Pulgasari. What can one say about such a movie, particularly given its unique origins. Director Shin Sang Ok presents a movie that, while made in the mid 1980s, has all the charm and poor quality of one made decades earlier.

The movie begins with what appears a subtle allegorical attack against the North Korean regime itself, or at least against the Songun “Army First” philosophy of Kim Jong Il himself. The peasants are oppressed by the King, who literally wants them to beat their cooking bowls and plowshares into swords for the King’s army. And this is portrayed as bad – I guess because the monarch doesn’t really care for his people?

The premise of the movie (a rip-off from an older Japanese film, or so I have heard), is that Pulgasari is brought to life by the Gods (I thought good North Koreans weren’t supposed to be taken in by such religions? Later, it is the evil forces who employ a Mudang to lure Pulgasari into a trap – their singing puts him into a trance, proving that religion is the opiate of the masses…), and aids the villagers in their fight against the King and his generals. The only catch is, to build his metal body and grow large, Pulgasari must eat metal – the very commodity that lead to the uprising in the first place. To save them, as its creator the dieing blacksmith says, the monster must destroy their village. There is some allegory in their too.

Throughout, you get the feeling that Pulgasari represents the great North Korean army – living off the peasants, working with them, and surviving because the spirit of the peasants burns. Oh, and Pulgasari burns too, only to exact his revenge by boiling his enemies as he rolls red-hot in the river.

There are references to the peasant armies of the past fleeing to their mountain strongholds, there are animals killed in the making of the film, there is the eating of bark and roots (awfully prescient about the North Koreans who, a decade later, were reportedly doing the same thing amid food shortages), and there are clever ambushes by the peasant armies.

The movie also has all the fun of an Asian monster flick – weird sound effects for the swords, a monster who can spit flaming cannon balls back at his opponents, flying missiles bouncing off his thick hide (or sticking in his eye…), and smashing buildings that look an awful lot like the Forbidden Palace in Beijing (perhaps another hidden allegory?). Oh, and there is the scene of Pulgasari squishing the King like the jelly donut he is.

After the war, Pulgasari still needs to eat, and the peasants continue to feed him their plows, risking their own lives. Eventually the main girl commits suicide by ingestion – she tricks Pulgasari into heating her, and when her spirit is extinguished, he explodes, becoming a spark in her heart again (though she looks really dead).

So there is an allegory that the Military is useful at times of crisis, springs up from the heart of the people, is invincible against the “most powerful weapons ever,” can squish the enemy, and must disband itself after the victory to allow the people to focus on agriculture and life, rather than feeding the insatiable appetite of the military machine. Ummmm… isn’t this the exact opposite message Pyongyang is trying to send to its people? Aren’t they still selling the Army First policy, the idea that without military strength there will be nothing else? Does this mean they will dump the army as soon as peace is achieved?

A few reviews are available at Stomp Tokyo, another at Stomp Tokyo, the SFCrowsnest, and the B-Movie Film Vault.

Or take a look at Kim Jong Il’s The Cinema and Directing.

And remember – bad guys always have oversized mustaches, its always better to take the tourist signs down when filming on location for a period piece, never try to kill an iron monster with fire, and never, ever try to hide in a bright yellow banner when an oversized iron monster is on the rampage.

The Dictator Who Cried Wolf

“Nobody believes a liar... even when he's telling the truth”

U.S. officials have reportedly delivered an “emergency demarche” to Beijing, alerting Chinese officials of heightened activity at North Korean missile and potential nuclear test sites, according to a Wall Street Journal article. Washington detected suspect activity via its network of spy satellites and, given Pyongyang’s recent moves regarding the ongoing nuclear crisis, called upon Beijing to rein in its wayward neighbor.

North Korea repeatedly warns of anything from the classic turning Seoul into a sea of fire to the claims by its unofficial spokesman in Japan that Pyongyang is both capable of and considering testing long range ballistic missiles off shore near New York City and Washington DC.

And there have been trickles of information out of Pyongyang that this August, for the 60th anniversary of Korean Liberation Day, North Korea will end the attempts at a peaceful resolution of the nuclear crisis it started in late 2002 and instead offer undeniable proof that it is a de jure nuclear power. This, of course, means a nuclear test. And this year North Korea has suspended operation at Yongbyon, claiming it will remove the nuclear fuel rods, reprocess the plutonium, and increase its nuclear arsenal accordingly. That after declaring itself in posession of nuclear weapons.

Now, North Korea, particularly under the Kim Jong Il regime, has survived on a policy of threatening bluff – operating under the presumption that the threat that North Korea might threaten to do something is enough to get others (the United States, South Korea, China…) to do something for the North. Pyongyang creates crises so it can gain rewards for returning to the status quo. That policy hasn’t worked this time around, and the nuclear crisis that was supposed to be ended by the summer of 2003 (the fiftieth anniversary of the Armistice Agreement) is still dragging on. Washington has finally called Pyongyang’s bluff.

That is, if it is bluff. North Korea has bluffed so much no one is really sure when it is (or if it is even capable of) telling the truth. So maybe Pyongyang is dead serious. Maybe in August, for the anniversary of National Liberation Day, or maybe in September, for the anniversary of the foundation of the DPRK, or maybe in October, to mark the anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s election as General Secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, or the anniversary of the Foundation of the Workers Party of Korea, Pyongyang will just go and test a nuclear device.

And then the world will be left wondering why they didn’t know it was coming…

Or maybe, North Korea is trying to make people think that it isn’t bluffing this time because they are afraid of Pyongyang crying wolf so that Pyongyang really is bluffing but double bluffing but…

(oooh, my brain hurts)

A Three Hour Tour?

Just sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip…

Hwang Hong Ryon returned to South Korea April 18 after an eventful vacation. Leaving Sokcho April 13 in a drunken stupor (something Hwang was quick to mention upon his return to the south), Hwang piloted his fishing boat, Hwangman-ho, north, braving a “hail of bullets and shells fired by the south Korean army,” as the [North] Korean Central News Agency put it, and eventually arriving in a North Korean port, where he was investigated “by a competent institution,” KCNA reported.

Well, five days later, here comes Hwang and Hwangman-ho, delivered to two 250 ton South Korean patrol boats by the North Koreans. His statement to the press upon returning to South Korea; “I'm happy to be back, I was so intoxicated that I went over [to North Korea] under the influence of alcohol.” And off he was whisked for an interrogation likely to be quite a bit more intense than those given by “a competent institution” in the North.

Best of luck to Hwang, and welcome home. Hopefully, when the NIS and military get done with him, he wont be wishing he had simply stayed in North Korea when he had the chance…

All I Ask Is A Tall Ship And A Star To Steer her By

"I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky; and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by."
-- John Masefield (1878-1967)

Pyongyang has confirmed that one Hwang Hong Ryon has indeed sailed his 3.9 ton fishing vessel across the maritime border in the East Sea and is now in North Korea, and under investigation. Hwang caused a stir April 13 when he sailed North from Sokcho (under the influence of alcohol, if the South Korean investigators are to be believed) and refused to stop amid automatic weapons fire from South Korean coastal forces. The incident received additional attention as the minister of unification was touring the area, so the reporters traveling with him near the DMZ heard the sound of the gunfire – which I’m sure raised some adrenaline levels for a moment.

If the stories being put out by the ROKs are accurate, this incident is a case of a 67-year-old North Korean-born fisherman whose son was in jail making one last (and first) trip back to his homeland after one too many bottles of soju. Coming after two more South Korean defections to the North last year (one boldly cutting a hole through the fence at the DMZ and walking through the minefield, the other, if I recall, going to the North via China), Hwang’s actions raise suspicions. Is there a sense that, given the continued economic rapprochement and the consistently soft tone by ROK officials toward the DPRK that defection North just isn’t all that bad? Is it that some people never seem to get on the family reunion list and are no longer willing to wait? Could the North be calling home some long-term agents from the South? Or is it just an anomaly that happened to happen three times recently, but there is little relation between the three?

Expect an Interesting Week

This week should be rather interesting on the Korean front. First, ROK President Roh Moo Hyun is in Germany – and if former Pres. Kim Dae Jung’s German visit is any measure, Roh may well say something interesting. Whatever he says, he is unlikely to back away from the peace and prosperity program and if anything will accelerate it and ask for foreign assistance in bringing North Korea into the modern world. Roh has already asked Kim Jong Il to make good on his promise to Kim DJ and visit Seoul. And Kim Jong Il will have an opportunity to respond, at least indirectly. The DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly will hold its delayed session this week. Give the delay, and the month-long disappearance of Kim Jong Il, something major was discussed and sorted out, and the decision to even have the SPA, coupled with Kim’s re-emergence, suggests something interesting is to come – perhaps a successor for the dear leader, or a new economic push, or some major breakthrough on the nuke issue (either more likely DPRK basically saying if there are no talks that’s OK as long as DPRK is recognized as being a nuke state, or, the less likely, that DPRK will suddenly play Libya and declare itself nuke free). Also coming soon is Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Pyongyang, something Hu will only do if he expects to get something useful from North Korea – and that useful thing may be announced or quietly revealed at the SPA session. While the options are still broad, this week will undoubtedly be looked at in retrospect as fairly significant in the realm of Korean relations.

Welcome Back Dear Leader

Kim Jong Il has once again shown his shiny face after some serious back-room discussions with the North Korean elite (and the Chinese apparently) about the future of six-way talks, North Korea's nuclear ambitions and the state and future state of the north Korean economy. While I haven't seen the KCNA report yet, South Korea's Yonhap is citing it saying Kim visited an army unit sometime recently, his first public appearance since his May 8 trip to the Russian embassy. Kim had a strong start this year in January and February, then slipped off the radar screen after the beginning of March. Kim has been elusive recently, usually a sign that some serious rejiggering of North Korean policy is in the works. Note that Pyongyang rescheduled the SPA as well.

Welcome back to the spotlight, dear leader!