This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

When you think North Korea do you think blockbuster film about the sinking of an ocean liner featuring 10,000 extras and state of the art CGI effects? Bet ya don’t. But you could. Kim Jong Il was a film buff and a fan of the 1997 version of Titanic with a dream of reviving the Hermit Kingdom’s film industry. So he commissioned Soul’s Protest, a fictionalized account of a real event of particular meaning to Koreans: The sinking of the Ukishima Maru, a ship carrying Koreans home after WWII. 550 passengers died when the ship hit a land mine and the North Koreans blamed the Japanese. Despite the DiCaprio-Winslet-style romance, the grand music and the words “North Korean Titanic” appearing larger than the actual name of the film on the poster, the movie was a bomb. Fortunately, not an atomic one.

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.