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Not friends, but not quite foes either

Movies show mixed feelings toward North Koreans

A movie about three North Korean spies dispatched to South Korea on a covert mission is slated for opening in June.

Titled “Eunmilhagae, Widaehagae (Discreetly, Greatly),” it is a story about elite agents from the hermit kingdom and people of the South coming to understand one another.

“I hope viewers will be moved by the human side of the movie, like how three North Koreans connect with South Koreans,” said Park Ki-woong, who played one of the North Korean spies in the movie.

The North Korean spies are depicted in a way that might come off unusual in other countries. It is often depicted as the home of faceless foes in American films, such as “Red Dawn (2012)” and “G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013).”

The portrayal of Pyongyang’s secret agents in “Eunmilhagae, Widaehagae” epitomizes the mixed feelings many South Koreans have against their neighbors in the North -- a mixture of an enemy and a long-lost sibling.

The relationship between South and North Korea is unlike other antagonists in that they view each other as a part of the same nation that have shared history and culture for more than 1,000 years. Due to the deep-rooted sense of connection and historical backgrounds, both Koreas focus on re-unification. Seoul even runs a government branch dedicated for that purpose, the Ministry of Unification.

Citizens also share the need to unite the two Koreas. In a recent poll by Gallup Korea, 74 percent of South Koreans support unification.

Since the 1950-1953 Korean War, however, such sentiment had been clouded by open hostility between the countries, driven by bitter mutual feelings left by the war. Up until the 1980s, most South Koreans felt hatred and fear toward the reclusive communist regime. Seoul, recovering from the ashes of the Korean War, embraced strong anti-communist policies, with the human side of North Koreans largely ignored in public.

Animated movie series “Ttol-I Janggun (General Ttol-I)” was a prime example of de-humanizing North Koreans among Korean cinemagoers. In the popular series, General Ttol-I fights North Korean soldiers depicted as wolves.

A turnaround came in the late 1990s when the frozen inter-Korean relations slowly began to thaw. The late President Kim Dae-jung, who took office in 1998, pushed for what he called the “Sunshine Policy” of engagement with North Korea. Kim sought to end the era of confrontation between the two countries.

The Sunshine Policy, which sparked mixed reactions in the South, helped change the way people of the South viewed North Koreans.

Also accelerating the change in perspective was the blockbuster hit movie “Swiri.” Released in 1998, the movie depicted the romance between a South Korean secret agent and a North Korean spy, highlighting the human side of North Koreans for the first time.

In the 2000 film “Joint Security Area (JSA),” soldiers standing watch at the heavily fortified DMZ overcome the hostility of the two countries to become friends.

Such friendship was taken to another level in the 2010 picture “Euihyeongjae (Blood-brothers)” where former spies of the South and the North, who have been tagging each other, become comrades and share brotherly love.

In “Frontline (2011),” South and North Korean soldiers share food and drinks via a secret stash during the Korean War. The soldiers even teach each other songs and show photos of their siblings.

Despite the temporary bonding, the movie characters eventually have to confront the cold reality, whether it is being forced into an armed standoff with a lover or a shootout against a friend. The lack of a happy ending in such films might illustrate the widespread perception of South Koreans: North Koreans are humans, not wolves, but it’s too early to call them friends.

By Yoon Min-sik
(minsikyoon@heralcorp.com)