The Propaganda Game

Now we want to take everyone to North Korea.

We have an unprecedented investigation by

the United Nations taking us inside a kind of hell.

-It's mad and sad and bad and silly all in the same time.

-Most tours go to North Korea with very low expectations.

Because everybody watches the documentaries,

reads the news, and so on.

And even if 90 percent of what they learn is not true,

at least it's something they've looked into.

Because everybody knows North Korea is an unusual place.

Everybody knows they do things differently to everyone else.

What we ignore is that there is life

for 24 million people there.

-The regime seeks to dominate every aspect

of its citizens' lives and terrorizes them from within.

We don't have much awareness of the Western mentality,

of how they perceive the Koreans from outside

from the rest of the world.

-For the outside world it's sort of a freak show.

That's part of the fascination with North Korea.

There aren't that many real mysteries left in the world,

and this is a closed, mysterious place.

Due to the U.S. hostile policy to our Korea,

they try to isolate and, you know,

stifle our country, consistently threaten our people.

-The situation in North Korea is extremely grave.

The country is a totalitarian regime.

It is a regime that doesn't respect

the universal human rights of its citizens.

-Amnesty International, which has been investigating

human rights violations for the last 50 years,

we find North Korea to be in a category of its own.

There's a severe food crisis.

Freedom of expression, freedom of speech,

freedom of association is severely curtailed.

-Torture, rape, forced abortion, and execution.

-Just unprecedented crimes against humanity.

And the world can't close its eyes to that

and pretend it's not there just because there's a nuclear problem.

-Pyongyang warns an explosion is imminent,

and war could break out today or tomorrow.

-North Korea does not and will not benefit

from violating international law.

How concerned should we be?

How dangerous is the situation?

This is how wars start.

-Threats of terror-like violence and another premiere cancelled.

-We cannot have a society in which some dictator someplace

can start imposing censorship

here in the United States.

Because if somebody is able to intimidate folks

out of releasing a satirical movie,

imagine what they'd start doing when they see

a documentary that they don't like.

We honor, we honor to the highest degree

our Great Leader Kim Jong-un we honor to the highest degree.

We honor, we honor to the highest degree

our Great Leader Kim Jong-un.

We honor to the highest degree.

North Korea is known as the Hermit Kingdom,

and there is a reason for this.

It is almost impossible to get in, especially with a camera.

Over the centuries, Korea has been invaded more than 100 times

by its powerful neighbors China and Japan.

Today, it remains the last stronghold of communism.

My name is Alvaro Longoria. I am a filmmaker from Spain.

For many years, I have been rather fascinated by North Korea.

Probably like you, I have wondered:

Is everything we read and hear about North Korea really true?

Over the next days, is my quest to seek out the truth.

After many failed attempts to get into the country,

I heard about Alejandro,

the only foreigner who works for the government of North Korea.

I contacted him through Facebook

and a year later, we were officially invited into the country.

Sponsored by Alejandro,

and provided we followed their strict rules,

we would be granted privileged access.

We were put on a predetermined itinerary

and could not leave the hotel alone.

At all times we were accompanied by our Korean guides.

In theory, we were allowed to interview anybody we wanted.

-Korea is a small country thousands of miles away.

But what is happening there is important to every American.

-A highly trained and well-equipped North Korean army

swarmed across the 38th parallel to attack

unprepared South Korean defenders.

-The scene was set for a war between North and South.

With the North supplied by China with tacet backing

from the Soviet Union.

And the South supported by the United States and its allies.

The cost was high to Americans

who bore the brunt under the UN banner.

Here they faced an enemy who ruthlessly slaughtered prisoners,

many with their arms bound.

-First films of the ceremonies at Panmunjom

that end 3 years of bitter, costly conflict.

The bulky agreement spells out in minutest detail

every provision of the truce.

The ceasefire is good news to the men at the front,

but it is almost sombre here.

Every UN member present knows that the big problems

remain to be solved, even if the enemy acts in good faith.

But there is hope. A big step forward has been taken.

The armistice becomes official.

The fighting is over.

Prisoners will be exchanged, but there is little rejoicing.

The Cold War is on, and the Free World wonders what next.

On day one, we headed to the South Korean border,

the most militarized in the world,

wrongly named the "Demilitarized Zone".

In the 200 km highway from Pyongyang,

we only saw one car,

a couple of bicycles and a bus.

Until September of 1945, when the U.S. occupied South Korea,

the 38th parallel marked the division between the North and the South.

The intention of the U.S. when they occupied South Korea,

was to provoke a war with North Korea

and to keep advancing to the north of the country to rule over all of Asia.

This is the division of the country that was made back then

and has remained untouched

causing misery and distress for more than half a century.

Around this line there is an area of 4 km called

the "Demilitarized Zone".

Panmunjom is the most unstable place in the world

where 2 nations at war are not separated by a physical border.

The Demilitarized Zone was not what we expected.

This is probably the most dangerous place in the world.

At the moment that's what they say the most heavily militarized...

But here it's very peaceful, on our side.

On our side it looks very relaxed.

To be honest, we were expecting something much more...

Except for the clapping.

Over there, that's South Korea

and those blue buildings are the border.

This place is strange and it feels like a tourist attraction.

This is the only place

where we can cross from the North to the South.

This room has been the setting for approximately 12,000 meetings

since the end of the war until March of 1991.

The purpose of these meetings was to denounce the acts of provocation

and the violations of the conditions of the armistice by the U.S.

Since the end of the war until 1991,

more than 815,000 infractions have been registered

committed by the U.S. government.

The violation of the conditions of the armistice

has caused that, at any time, nuclear war could break out in Korea.

In order to preserve peace in Korea and in the World,

we need to design a new system that can assure peace

between us and the U.S.

But the U.S. keeps doing military tests

and every year they increase

the deployment of nuclear weapons in South Korea.

Our victory is not recognized by the U.S.

and doesn't appear in their books.

We do not know how it will be taught in the future.

Documents, they showed

how the war was prepared by the North Koreans.

Evidence from the Russian and Chinese archives

was published 20 years ago,

but most North Koreans still believe

the war was initiated by the Americans.

When I was in North Korea

I was taught that America started the Korean War

but when I came to South Korea and studied the history,

I realized that it was actually North Korea

that first attacked South Korea.

We always explain the Korean War was started by the U.S.

although there was a fight going on

because our guerillas led by President Kim Il-sung,

liberated the Northern half

while the U.S. was advancing from the South.

Then they collided and there were many skirmishes and fighting.

Even if the Americans recognize their wrongdoing,

we won't let them enter our country,

nor will we let them sign this treaty.

In school we are taught

that the United States

is the cause of our economic hardship

and the reason why our lives are so difficult.

That is why the North Koreans believe the U.S. is to blame

for their mortification and their dissatisfaction.

It is all the fault of the United States.

We cannot live like enemies forever.

Some people change their policies,

or apologize for the past

but, speaking of Americans they never did.

Imperialists are still...

they didn't throw away their policy.

They're sanctioning and stifling ours.

So defending our country,

of course, that matter comes first.

Military force is very important,

so we are enforcing Songun politics

even in present times.

"Army first" politics.

It means a country without a powerful army

cannot survive.

It will be always dependent

on the big superpowers.