0:02:04 > 0:02:06Ladies and gentlemen of the press.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10Come on! Out of the way! Down! Give somebody else a break!
0:02:10 > 0:02:13I have been provided with the following background information.
0:02:13 > 0:02:16Mr Shin and Ms Choi are both nationals of South Korea
0:02:16 > 0:02:18and are married.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23Mr Shin was a well-known director, and Ms Choi a famous actress in the
0:02:23 > 0:02:26South Korean film industry.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Some eight years ago, Ms Choi appeared in North Korea
0:02:29 > 0:02:32after having been in Hong Kong.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35Subsequently, Mr Shin travelled to Hong Kong
0:02:35 > 0:02:37and later appeared in North Korea.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41Today's conference is held at the request of Mr Shin and Ms Choi.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45The Shin couple will have opening statements
0:02:45 > 0:02:49after I finish my remarks.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Mount Baekdu, the mountain that chimes with the history of the
0:06:20 > 0:06:24Korean revolution, tells the great history of the leadership of Korea
0:06:24 > 0:06:27by Kim Jong-il.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Inheriting the qualities of President Kim Il-sung,
0:06:34 > 0:06:38a peerless hero of Korea, and Kim Jong-suk, a woman hero
0:06:38 > 0:06:43of the anti-Japanese revolution, Kim Jong-il has led a Korean
0:06:43 > 0:06:44revolution for several decades.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53In the mid-1960s, when the situation in Korea and the world
0:06:53 > 0:06:58was complicated, Kim Jong-il started working at the Central Committee
0:06:58 > 0:07:00of the Workers' Party of Korea,
0:07:00 > 0:07:03the General Staff of the Korean revolution.
0:07:03 > 0:07:06Whenever the US imperialists resorted to highhandedness with
0:07:06 > 0:07:09regard to Korea, they put them to shame,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13displaying the wisdom and mettle of an iron-willed commander.
0:07:49 > 0:07:55In the 1960s, I was working in a military intelligence organisation
0:07:55 > 0:07:58in South Korea.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03But I didn't have any connection with the film business.
0:08:03 > 0:08:07I was just the audience.
0:08:09 > 0:08:14My job was to interrogate North Korean defectors
0:08:14 > 0:08:17and arrested North Korean espionage agents.
0:08:22 > 0:08:29In 1970s, the North Korean Workers' Party recognised Kim Jong-il
0:08:29 > 0:08:31as his father's heir apparent.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38So he started to build up his own power base.
0:08:40 > 0:08:45During that period, there was a very severe power struggle
0:08:45 > 0:08:48to protect Kim Jong-il's power
0:08:48 > 0:08:52and his succession of power from his father.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58Many, many people were killed and purged.
0:09:09 > 0:09:14All of them are brainwashed. All of them are brainwashed.
0:09:14 > 0:09:18An interrogator's job is to crack it,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20to make him understand the true story,
0:09:20 > 0:09:22true facts of what's going on.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Can you describe what you heard on the tapes?
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Because you told us before that you have heard Kim Jong-il's voice.
0:12:19 > 0:12:20Not many people have.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23- I cannot do that.- I know you can't explain how you heard it.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26Can you explain that you knew they were real,
0:12:26 > 0:12:28and this is really Kim Jong-il?
0:12:28 > 0:12:31- I cannot say the circumstances. - Yeah, of course.
0:12:31 > 0:12:33OK. Let's start. OK.
0:12:33 > 0:12:37I mentioned about five tapes that were released
0:12:37 > 0:12:42to South Korean authorities, and I recognised Kim Jong-il's voice.
0:19:04 > 0:19:07We received a phone call from the Furama hotel,
0:19:07 > 0:19:11that one of their guests had left the hotel without paying
0:19:11 > 0:19:14in circumstances which they were unfamiliar with.
0:19:14 > 0:19:17I think it was a Sunday.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19I was just about to come off my particular shift,
0:19:19 > 0:19:22and because Hong Kong is such a massive place, with so many people,
0:19:22 > 0:19:25missing people, missing persons' cases were,
0:19:25 > 0:19:28as you can imagine, happening quite frequently.
0:19:28 > 0:19:31But because this person involved a foreign national,
0:19:31 > 0:19:35ie, not a local Hong Kong person, we had to pay particular attention.
0:19:48 > 0:19:51When we got to the hotel, everything was in its place.
0:19:53 > 0:19:57All her suitcases, her personal belongings,
0:19:57 > 0:19:59the bathroom had all the cosmetics
0:19:59 > 0:20:02that you would expect from someone who is staying there
0:20:02 > 0:20:05and had no intention of leaving in a hurry,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08so we soon realised that we're onto something here
0:20:08 > 0:20:11which wasn't just a missing person.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Why has she come to Hong Kong?
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Who asked her? Why was she there?
0:20:15 > 0:20:19And why had she mysteriously just disappeared, as it would seem,
0:20:19 > 0:20:22off the face of the Earth with no trace?
0:20:57 > 0:20:59Choi was divorced...
0:21:00 > 0:21:03..with a big bank debt.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11One Korean lady had approached Choi Eun-hee
0:21:11 > 0:21:16and she said, "We have a very, very rich person in Hong Kong.
0:21:16 > 0:21:19"She is also doing film business."
0:21:21 > 0:21:23Her name was Lee Sang-hee.
0:21:24 > 0:21:27At the time, the South Korean government didn't know,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30Choi did not know, I did not know,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34nobody knew she was a North Korean agent.
0:27:10 > 0:27:12On 30th February 1978,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16we searched Lee Sang-hee's apartment in Queen's Road East.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19It was quite revealing what we found.
0:27:19 > 0:27:23A used North Korean airline ticket,
0:27:23 > 0:27:27and also a film script called Woman Slave Ship,
0:27:27 > 0:27:30which was one of Shin's film scripts.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37I remember the first time I met Shin.
0:27:37 > 0:27:39There was something quite distinctive about him,
0:27:39 > 0:27:43he had a bit of a swagger, good-looking and very confident.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48It's difficult to articulate instinct,
0:27:48 > 0:27:51but we felt there was something about Shin
0:27:51 > 0:27:54that it didn't sit comfortably with us.
0:27:54 > 0:27:58His answers were somewhat inconsistent,
0:27:58 > 0:28:00and he appeared to be very evasive.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04He was quite clear that he had nothing to do with it,
0:28:04 > 0:28:07but wanted to have police protection.
0:28:07 > 0:28:12He felt that Choi had been abducted by the North Koreans.
0:28:12 > 0:28:15He was obviously quite concerned
0:28:15 > 0:28:17about what was going to happen to him.
0:28:20 > 0:28:25Many different stories spread. Speculations.
0:28:30 > 0:28:33Shin contacted Kim Kyu-hwa.
0:28:34 > 0:28:39He was Shin's old friend and business partner.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46But Shin did not know...
0:28:49 > 0:28:52..he was also a North Korean agent.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23GUNSHOT
0:33:06 > 0:33:08I was in Hong Kong for the film festival
0:33:08 > 0:33:11because I'd heard about Shin Sang-ok.
0:33:11 > 0:33:14I wanted to meet him and to see some of his films.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19I do not remember exactly how it came about.
0:33:19 > 0:33:23I remember that I found out that he was at this hotel,
0:33:23 > 0:33:26I was surprised that it was such a cheap hotel.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Clearly, he was not doing well.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33From 1974,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36the South Korean government decided to stop his activities,
0:33:36 > 0:33:39he was not authorised to make films.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42He was an outcast in Korea.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46He had to try to find work somewhere else.
0:35:01 > 0:35:06The suspicion was that he was dead.
0:35:06 > 0:35:09The suspicion was that he could have been killed by the Korean CIA.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28SHE SINGS IN KOREAN
0:38:20 > 0:38:25THEY SING IN KOREAN
0:38:25 > 0:38:28APPLAUSE
0:49:03 > 0:49:05SHE CHUCKLES
0:52:35 > 0:52:38Kim Jong-il had a most bizarre childhood.
0:52:40 > 0:52:45He was clearly an awful leader, an awful person as an adult,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49but one has to feel a little sympathy for this boy,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52unable to live anything like a normal childhood.
0:52:53 > 0:52:57Apparently the decision was made that Kim Jong-il could not play with
0:52:57 > 0:53:02other children and so he had only a tiny number of playmates.
0:53:02 > 0:53:06He was put in an enormous house to live,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10given a huge room stuffed with toys.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Undoubtedly, being raised that way must have contributed to
0:53:17 > 0:53:21the very odd personality that Kim Jong-il developed.
0:53:24 > 0:53:27And as early as the early '70s,
0:53:27 > 0:53:31Kim Il-sung was having his son Kim Jong-il groomed to succeed him.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42And yet the people's respect for Kim Jong-il was much less
0:53:42 > 0:53:45than it was for his father, Kim Il-sung.
0:53:47 > 0:53:51Kim Jong-il was not the founder, he was the son,
0:53:51 > 0:53:55he inherited his position, he was much shorter than his father.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02And his father was quite outgoing, he looked like a politician.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07He laughed, he slapped people on the shoulder.
0:54:13 > 0:54:18And Kim Jong-il was clearly, in ways, self-aware,
0:54:18 > 0:54:21and knew that he was not charismatic.
0:54:21 > 0:54:24He was introverted, shy,
0:54:24 > 0:54:27he never really spoke publicly to his people.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33Kim Jong-il thought of himself as an artiste.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41But the late 1970s,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45Kim Jong-il was actually running the country for the most part.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48Kim Il-sung probably had the last word,
0:54:48 > 0:54:51but he was very much in many respects the retired grandfather,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54and I don't think he was watching very closely
0:54:54 > 0:54:56what Kim Jong-il was doing.
0:58:56 > 0:58:58SHE SINGS IN KOREAN
1:00:16 > 1:00:20Jong-il Peak soars high in Mount Paektu.
1:00:20 > 1:00:24The dear leader comrade Kim Jong-il was born in this historic house in
1:00:24 > 1:00:27the secret camp below the peak.
1:00:32 > 1:00:36The mountain is a mysterious one, where wonders are made.
1:04:22 > 1:04:24HE SPEAKS IN KOREAN
1:07:12 > 1:07:15He was shooting a picture in Prague.
1:07:16 > 1:07:19It was a kind of sensation.
1:07:19 > 1:07:25Shin Sang-ok had surfaced in Prague, shooting a film for North Korea.
1:07:27 > 1:07:30He was full of ambition,
1:07:30 > 1:07:33speaking of a studio which he was building,
1:07:33 > 1:07:39bringing new equipment with him to make films and producing films.
1:07:39 > 1:07:42I guess he was close to...
1:07:42 > 1:07:46the man he was in the '60s, when he was so successful.
1:07:46 > 1:07:49He was suddenly very happy.
1:07:49 > 1:07:52I suppose you're from Korea, aren't you?
1:07:52 > 1:07:55- I came here on some business. - Welcome.
1:08:24 > 1:08:29They were accompanied by about at least 20 heavies
1:08:29 > 1:08:34whom I gathered were, I thought, North Korean security people.
1:08:36 > 1:08:38They were definitely guarding these people.
1:08:40 > 1:08:43All in the same suit. It was very strange,
1:08:43 > 1:08:46they were all in exactly the same dark suit.
1:08:48 > 1:08:53I don't know, they seemed sort of friendly.
1:08:53 > 1:08:57It did seem as if there's something slightly odd going on.
1:09:01 > 1:09:05They went to the Berlin International Film Festival
1:09:05 > 1:09:12and there they met South Korean friends attending this festival.
1:09:12 > 1:09:16Shin and Choi showed very cold shoulder to them.
1:09:16 > 1:09:20"OK, we're doing very, very good in North Korea.
1:09:20 > 1:09:24"You cannot even imagine how much the Party is supporting us.
1:09:24 > 1:09:27"We are freely making films as we want.
1:09:27 > 1:09:30"We are perfectly OK in North Korea.
1:09:30 > 1:09:35"There is no country better than North Korea to do film business."
1:09:35 > 1:09:39North Korean watchdog security guards reported to Kim Jong-il
1:09:39 > 1:09:41when they went back to Pyongyang,
1:09:41 > 1:09:43"Oh, now, don't say anything.
1:09:43 > 1:09:50"Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee are absolutely loyal to North Korea.
1:09:52 > 1:09:56"They are loyal to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il."
1:09:56 > 1:10:02And they started to obtain more confidence from these two leaders
1:10:02 > 1:10:05and they gave them better treatment.
1:10:06 > 1:10:11That is the beginning point that Shin and Choi started to think of
1:10:11 > 1:10:14escape from North Korea.
1:15:14 > 1:15:17Out of the blue, I received a telephone call
1:15:17 > 1:15:19from a lady saying that
1:15:19 > 1:15:23she was associated with Shin Sang-ok and Choi Eun-hee
1:15:23 > 1:15:26and she needed to talk to me.
1:15:26 > 1:15:30Her father had met Shin Sang-ok when travelling in Europe.
1:15:30 > 1:15:36She said that Shin had asked him to pass a message to the US government,
1:15:36 > 1:15:39that Shin was being held under duress,
1:15:39 > 1:15:42that he had not defected to North Korea,
1:15:42 > 1:15:46that he wished to escape and come to the United States.
1:15:48 > 1:15:51And we have a bag full of rattling microcassette tapes,
1:15:51 > 1:15:54like we used to use in those days.
1:15:54 > 1:15:59Well, at that point, I nearly jumped off my chair and said,
1:15:59 > 1:16:03"Tapes? Of Shin talking with Kim Jong-il?"
1:16:03 > 1:16:06Now, at that time...
1:16:06 > 1:16:09no-one had ever heard Kim Jong-il say anything,
1:16:09 > 1:16:11we didn't know what his voice sounded like.
1:16:13 > 1:16:16My wife is originally from Korea.
1:16:16 > 1:16:19I thought it would be useful if she could help me
1:16:19 > 1:16:23listen to a few of these tapes to see if they sounded authentic,
1:16:23 > 1:16:26so, for some silly reason, we were sitting in bed
1:16:26 > 1:16:31and we actually covered our heads with the sheets
1:16:31 > 1:16:34while we were listening covertly to these tapes.
1:20:09 > 1:20:14On March 13th, Shin Sang-ok,
1:20:14 > 1:20:18a former South Korean movie producer who has been working in North Korea,
1:20:18 > 1:20:23and Choi Eun-hee approached the US government and sought assistance.
1:20:23 > 1:20:27We have given them assistance, but I can't give you anything further.
1:20:29 > 1:20:33In Vienna, we would expect that any defector that's going to walk in
1:20:33 > 1:20:37is either an East Bloc military person,
1:20:37 > 1:20:39an East Bloc intelligence officer or a diplomat.
1:20:41 > 1:20:45Film people from North Korea, that's interesting,
1:20:45 > 1:20:49that's not something you see very often on the radar,
1:20:49 > 1:20:51that's not what you would expect.
1:20:54 > 1:20:57They spent considerable time sitting down talking to
1:20:57 > 1:21:02the intelligence authorities about every single aspect of that story.
1:21:06 > 1:21:13This story could sound funny if we were the suspicious kind of people.
1:21:13 > 1:21:16When I met Shin and Choi the first time,
1:21:16 > 1:21:22they were so uneasy, they were so ill at ease.
1:21:22 > 1:21:25Some people said Choi was really kidnapped,
1:21:25 > 1:21:29but Shin was not kidnapped, but he walked into North Korea.
1:21:29 > 1:21:33That was the story, widespread.
1:21:33 > 1:21:37Everyone was convinced in South Korea
1:21:37 > 1:21:41that he had gone willingly, for whatever it means.
1:21:41 > 1:21:44Every single person at that time thought that.
1:21:48 > 1:21:50In the tape, Kim Jong-il...
1:21:52 > 1:21:58..confessed that he had to kidnap Shin and Choi to North Korea
1:21:58 > 1:22:01to improve the North Korean film business.
1:22:48 > 1:22:51The truth about the kidnap, I think,
1:22:51 > 1:22:56except if really there is a solid source in North Korea,
1:22:56 > 1:22:59a trustable source,
1:22:59 > 1:23:01I think we shall never know.
1:23:05 > 1:23:08Anyway, they were brought to the United States,
1:23:08 > 1:23:11the United States government accepted their asylum in
1:23:11 > 1:23:13the United States.