Hollywood and North Korea

How much do any of us know about North Korea and why? Hollywood aspires to reveal and inspire in tragic big name films such as "Schindler's List" or "Empire of the Sun" among others. But how often does anyone in Hollywood take on the immediate relative issues of good and evil in the world? Oh... I forgot that several films vilifying, to one degree or another, the United States in the Iraq War, a war we are still fighting, have come out already. What were their titles? ...

Now only after two western journalists have been sentenced to twelve years of hard labor are some coming forward to expose the horror of North Korean labor camps. Camps that have existed for some six decades. It is easy to engage issues of unimaginable evil from a distance but how many have the courage to confront existing tyrannies such as North Korea in the here and now? The North being part of a peninsula filled with stories of unimagined suffering, families divided and heroic attempts at escape. Much has been discovered on the lives of Japanese citizens kidnapped and taken to North Korea to train spies to speak faultless Japanese. A friend of mine told me of a unit buddy of his who disappeared on the DMZ, a place where the gun fire has never ended, under the siren call of a North Korean agent, promising love and free land.

I'm confident contemporary heart wrenching stories exist among the Christian populations of China, in nations such as Iran or on the plight of women in general in many parts of the world. Sounds like loads of material. Material perhaps not suited for today's top movie stars, unless we want to go back to the days when Orientals were often played by Caucasians on the big screen.

Cinema is a powerful medium, and small scale attempts have been made against contemporary wrongs, but too few have the fortitude to bring the power of Hollywood to bear on the deepest darkest issues of today. To challenge true evils rather than largely manufactured ones attributed to those known to have little or no inclination to strike back. But what can we really expect from Hollywood when our news media barely covers the issues? A media, now rallied by our own President, more intent on tearing down this nation than taking on the tough issues.

Yes, such movies can be provocative. But when has the North not been threatening war? The truth is the military, just as everything else in North Korea, is based on delusion and terror. (our nation is already embracing delusion) Part of that delusion being fueled by the apathy they see in the world towards their misconduct. The North Korean military holds its relevance based only on the ability to launch tens of thousands of missiles an hour over several hours and now the possibility of nuclear weapons. Our own troops in Korea describe themselves as a speed bump, but they are the most highly trained, prepared and best equipped military force the world has ever seen. A power that has never been matched when the resolve was there. As someone who has paid a bit of attention to the world and history I see a shredding machine where nothing comes out the other side, if our President doesn't get in the way. And North Korea knows it.