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"The 1978 abductions of the South Korean actress Choi-Eun-hee and her ex-husband, the director Shin Sang-ok, in Hong Kong is the true crime at the center of Paul Fischer's gripping and surprisingly timely new book." -The New York TimesBefore becoming the world's most notorious dictator, Kim Jong-Il ran North Korea's Ministry for Propaganda and its film studios. Conceiving every movie made, he acted as producer and screenwriter. Despite this control, he was underwhelmed by the available talent and took drastic steps, ordering the kidnapping of Choi Eun-Hee (Madam Choi) -South Korea's most famous actress-and her ex-husband Shin Sang-Ok, the country's most famous filmmaker.Madam Choi vanished first. When Shin went to Hong Kong to investigate, he was attacked and woke up wrapped in plastic sheeting aboard a ship bound for North Korea. Madam Choi lived in isolated luxury, allowed only to attend the Dear Leader's dinner parties. Shin, meanwhile, tried to escape, was sent to prison camp, and "re-educated." After four years he cracked, pledging loyalty. Reunited with Choi at the first party he attends, it is announced that the couple will remarry and act as the Dear Leader's film advisors. Together they made seven films, in the process gaining Kim Jong-Il's trust. While pretending to research a film in Vienna, they flee to the U.S. embassy and are swept to safety.A nonfiction thriller packed with tension, passion, and politics, author Paul Fischer's A Kim Jong-Il Production offers a rare glimpse into a secretive world, illuminating a fascinating chapter of North Korea's history that helps explain how it became the hermetically sealed, intensely stage-managed country it remains today.
About the Author
PAUL FISCHER is the author of A Kim Jong-Il Production, published by Penguin in the UK and Macmillan in the US in 2015, and translated into fourteen languages. The book was nominated for the Crime Writers' Association Non-Fiction Book of the Year Award, longlisted for a Choice Award for Best History & Biography, and chosen as one of the best books of 2015 by Library Journal, Hudson Booksellers, and NPR. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Independent, Guardian, The Narwhal, SyfyWire, and Bright Wall / Dark Room amongst others, and he has co-written horror films for Blumhouse and Hulu, including 2018's The Body and 2019's Pure. He produced the feature documentary Radioman, which was longlisted for a Grierson Award and won the Grand Jury Prize at the DOC NYC festival.
