Shocking audio recording of late North Korean leader revealed

This is a new audio recording revealing the story of a South Korean couple kidnapped by North Korea in 1978.

According toSouth China Morning Post(SCMP) October 28, the voice appearing in the audio recording recorded in the 1980s is the voice of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The audio recording was revealed in a new document calledThe Lovers and the Despot. SCMP said the recording provided a rare glimpse into North Korea. Kim Jong-il was the supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011.

SCMP said the incident happened in 1978. At that time, Korean actress Choi Eun-hee was kidnapped during a business trip to Hong Kong and then taken to Pyongyang on the orders of the late leader Kim Jong-il.

Late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. Photo: SCMP

When her ex-husband, Shin Sang-ok, a talented film director, went to search for her whereabouts, he was also kidnapped. After the couple were reunited in a “foreign land”, they were both forced to make a film about Kim Jong-il.

Choi and Shin gradually gained the trust of the late North Korean leader and were allowed to travel to Eastern Europe to make films and attend film festivals. In 1986, the actor couple fled to the US embassy in Vienna. From the start, Shin knew that no one would believe their story without proof, so he and his wife secretly recorded Kim Jong-il.

With a micro-recorder hidden in Ms. Choi's handbag, they recorded all the words of Mr. Kim, who was in charge of the North Korean film industry at the time. Among them, the North Korean leader expressed his sadness at the lagging state of his country's film industry compared to South Korea.

“Why do all our films have the same plot, the same script? There is nothing new. We don’t have any big films to enter film festivals. In South Korea, you have better technology. You are like university students and we are like kindergartens,” Kim Jong-il said in the recording.

In the tape, Mr. Kim also admitted that he had ordered the kidnapping of actress Choi Eun-hee and director Shin Sang-ok with the aim of having them make a film about him. Mr. Kim admitted: “I asked my advisor, who is the best director in Korea? He said his name is Shin.”

Mr. Kim later apologized to Mr. Shin for his inappropriate behavior in allowing the South Korean director to be kidnapped by North Korean agents. Mr. Kim also felt guilty for keeping the couple separated for four years. “I didn’t tell them (the spies) about the plan to cooperate with you. I just said, ‘Bring them here,’” Mr. Kim said.

During a trip to Budapest, Mr. Shin gave the secret tape to a Japanese film critic, an old friend of his. The tape was then sent to a friend of the film critic living in New Jersey, who then took the tape to the U.S. State Department.

Late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (center) with Shin Sang-ok (left) and South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee. Photo: Korea Joongang Daily

Initially, the US government also suspected that the voice in the tape could be that of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The US government was only suspicious but not certain because Mr. Kim is also known to be a man of few words when appearing in public. Therefore, in the documents of Western intelligence agencies, there are no recordings of Mr. Kim's voice to compare.

“The story initially seemed fantastic. My boss asked me about the credibility of the tape,” said David Straub, a North Korea expert who was the first official to receive the tape. “We had psychologists and linguists, native Korean speakers, analyze the tape, and the U.S. government probably decided it was credible.”

According to Straub, the US government had asked US embassies in Europe to monitor Mr. Shin and Ms. Choi's every move. The South Korean couple had carefully planned to distract the North Korean group that was following them during their trip to Vienna and take a taxi to the US embassy.

After their escape, Mr. Shin and Ms. Choi gave a series of interviews to intelligence agencies and the media. They also wrote books about their experiences.

The couple's story was also the subject of a widely read book by Paul Fischer, published last year.

Director Shin and actress Choi made 17 films in North Korea and held their wedding there. After fleeing to the United States, the couple settled in Los Angeles. Using the stage name Simon Sheen, Mr. Shin directed the film TFree NinjasHe passed away in 2006 and his wife, Ms. Choi, returned to Seoul (South Korea) to live.

According to PLO