logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2021
48 m

#96: Kidnapped By North Korea Part 2 (Ca...

STEPHANIE SOO
About this episode

You want us to do what? - the couple had been kidnapped and forced to live in North Korea for years before they found out the truth. 



The wife was a former beloved movie actress. The husband was an award-winning film director. And now North Korea had kidnapped them to make movies for Kim Jong Il. 


It sounds like a fictional story - but it was very much real. And the couple’s lives depended on how good of a movie they could make. 


(Please listen to Part 1 before this episode!)


Book Rec: “A Kim Jong Il Production” - by Paul Fischer (Even my Korean parents who grew up with this case on the news learned so much from this book! 10/10)


Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com

Up next
Today
Teen Boy Mutilates 2 Girls & Throws One Of Their Heads Into The Street In FRONT Of Her Mom
Ikbal's mother has been trying to get in contact with her daughter for over an hour at this point. Ikbal had been dealing with a stalker for a few years and her family were frantic. One more try. Ikbal’s mother dials for her daughter. Click. Someone picks up the phone, but the re ... Show More
1h 20m
Aug 21
Woman Gets FB Message From Old College BF After He Killed His Rapist - This Is Her Response
It will be their first time seeing each other in 20+ years. The last time they saw each other was when they broke up after college. Now, so much has changed. He’s gotten out of prison for killing his childhood abuser. She’s started her own business and moved on with her life. May ... Show More
2h 2m
Aug 18
I Sat Down With A Killer
What happened that day in that little house in the woods is not a debate. The evidence is all there. The blood, the wounds, the dead man lying on the floor of the living room. That night while the homeowner was watching TV - Clark Fredericks walked in, slashed at him with a hunti ... Show More
1h 25m
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2020
Kim Jong-il Part 2: Time to Make a Movie…
Kim Jong-il has risen to become propaganda chief under the rule of his father. Now, he hatches an audacious plan to turn North Korea into a filmmaking powerhouse. South Korea’s finest actress and leading director are kidnapped and find themselves on boats bound for the North. Els ... Show More
48m 30s
Jun 2020
Kim Jong-il Part 1: Birth of North Korea
Kim Jong-il built a rogue state with nuclear missiles trained on its enemies – all while living a life of the utmost luxury. In the first episode of Real Dictators, we piece together the early life of this tyrant and that of the country he came to rule. Kim Jong-il is born during ... Show More
53m 49s
Mar 2021
S5 Ep16: The Assassination of Kim Jong-nam
This week, we take a deep dive into the life and death of Kim Jong-nam, the brother of North Korean dictator and all round nut job Kim Jong-un. Following an ill-feted trip to Disneyland in 2001, Jong-nam was ostracised from the family and exiled to Macau. Here, he led a relativel ... Show More
1h 7m
Jan 2019
The American Soldiers Who Defected to North Korea and Became Movie Stars
Often described as one of the most isolated countries in the world, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea has been ruled by the Kim dynasty since 1948. And while most reports of defectors focus on harrowing stories of North Koreans escaping to freedom in China or South Korea, ... Show More
33m 12s
Aug 2020
Kim Jong Un Story
It is rumored that the North Korean leader is in a coma and his sister is prepared to exert absolute power. In studio today, we have our very own Kim J. Anthony Brown Un and he reminds us of the real truth. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comS ... Show More
3m 16s
Apr 2020
NEW: Kim Il-sung Pt. 1: North Korea
We are thrilled to bring you a brand new episode of Dictators today and for the foreseeable future. We thank you for your patience during this unprecedented time. He rose from anti-Japanese freedom to the leader of a Soviet-led puppet government in North Korea. But just as North ... Show More
40m 58s
May 2024
North Korea’s Propaganda Mastermind
For six decades, one man has been largely responsible for creating North Korea’s propaganda machine: Kim Ki Nam. He served all three North Korean dictators and is the architect of many of the myths that have helped to keep the Kim family in power. Last week, Kim Ki Nam died at th ... Show More
18m 56s
May 2024
EP64: Pranked and Poisoned
The assassination of Kim Jong-Nam, brother of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-Un, was an outrageously mind-boggling event. It unfolded like a script where a spy thriller and a candid-camera show intersected and somehow, incredibly, changed history. Prank comedy, particularly in Eas ... Show More
1h 16m
Nov 2021
Why my parents sent my brothers to live in North Korea
Filmmaker Yonghi Yang grew up in Japan in the 1960s, as part of Osaka's large ethnic Korean community. Facing anti-Korean prejudice in Japan, and inspired by the North Korean regime’s promise of a socialist paradise, her parents made the momentous decision to send their three tee ... Show More
23m 50s