List of films set in or about North Korea

This is a list of films that involve North Korea. (This listing excludes films produced by the North Korean government).

Documentaries[]

• Defilada (1988)
• Travelogue (1996). The first travel film in the nation hosted by Andy Kershaw alongside Koryo Tours.
• Pyongyang Diaries (1998). A 71-minute documentary directed by Solrun Hoaas.
• Decades Apart: North Korea (2000). A 24-minute documentary (ABC Australia / Journeyman Pictures) about family reunifications of North and South Koreans in North Korea.
• Discovery Times: Children of the Secret State (2000)
• Welcome to North Korea, original title: Noord-Korea (2001) is a 50-minutes Dutch documentary directed by Raymond Feddema and Peter Tetteroo. The film won the 2001 International Emmy award for Best Documentary.^[1]
• North Korea - Shadows And Whispers (2000). A 52-minute documentary by filmmaker Kim Jung-Eun for Journeyman Pictures about a North Korean family defecting to China.
• Living Hell (2001). A 41-minute follow-up documentary to North Korea - Shadows And Whispers (2000).
• Intérieur Nord, English title(s): Day for Night in Pyongyang or Inside North Korea (2002). A 53-minute French documentary (Arte / Artline Films) by film maker David Carr-Brown about the film industry of North Korea.
• The Game of Their Lives (2002)
• Frontline/World: Suspicious Minds (2003)
• Frontline: Kim's Nuclear Gamble (2003). A 55-minute American documentary (PBS).
• Secret Nation (2003)
• Nuclear Nightmare: Understanding North Korea (2003). A 45-minute Discovery Channel documentary which has been criticized for its superficiality.^[2]
• North Korea - The Juche Era (2003). A 46-minute Bulgarian documentary distributed by Journeyman Pictures.
• North Korea: Beyond The DMZ (2003). A 60-minute documentary by J.T. Takagi & Hye Jung Park.
• Repatriation (Songhwan, 송환) (2003). A 148-minute documentary by Kim Dong-won.
• A State of Mind (2004)
• North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004)
• North Korea : the Border and the War (2004)
• Access to Evil (2004)
• Return To The Border (2005)
• Dispatches: Undercover in the Secret State (2005). Smugglers traverse the border between China and North Korea.
• Dear Pyongyang (2005)
• Abduction: The Megumi Yokota Story (2006), BBC, PBS, Fuji TV, An 85-minute American documentary. (Read more about Megumi Yokota).
• Seoul Train (2006). Broadcast on television around the world, including on the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Awarded the Alfred I. duPont – Columbia University Silver Baton for excellence in broadcast journalism,^[3] and was named runner-up in the National Journalism Awards.^[4]
• 60 Minutes: The Hermit Kingdom (2006)
• Crossing the Line (VMS /Koryo Tours 2006)
• ABC News: A rare look inside North Korea (2006)
• Friends of Kim (2006). A 71-minute documentary about a group of members of the Korean Friendship Association, who travel to North Korea to demonstrate their support for the North Korean regime.
• Nordkorea: Einblicke in ein verschlossenes Land which translates to North Korea: Insights into a secretive country (2006). A 43-minute German documentary about a changing society. The film covers i.a. the following topics: the Kimchi harvest, energy shortages, the North Korean preschool system, the North Korean famine, English lessons in North Korean schools, private farm markets and restaurants, demand driven shoe production, a Buddhist temple, a Bowling alley and the International Friendship Exhibition.
• Kims Reich: Unterwegs in Nordkorea which translates to Kim's Kingdom: Travelling in North Korea (2006). A 27-minute German documentary about a Swiss tourist group. The film covers i.a. the Arirang Festival, a visit to a Buddhist temple, the demilitarized zone and the mountains of Kuwŏlsan and Myohyang-san.
• Our School (2007), a documentary film about the lives of ethnic Korean students in a Chongryon-run pro-North Korean highschool in Hokkaido, Japan.
• National Geographic: Inside North Korea (2007)
• Undercover in North Korea (2007)
• An American in North Korea (2007)
• North Korea: Hell on earth
• National Geographic: Don't Tell My Mother I'm In... (Episode on North Korea)
• North Korea a legacy of tension (2007)
• The Vice Guide to North Korea (2008)^[5][6][7]
• Kimjongilia (2008)
• Vítejte v KLDR! (English title: Welcome to the DPRK!) (2008) is a 71-minute Czech documentary about a Czech tourist group travelling to North Korea.
• Seven Days In North Korea (2008) is a documentary by David Pluth focusing on North Korea's history, present and culture.
• Yodok Stories (2008)
• Themepark 1984 (2009)
• Kim Jong Il's Comedy Club (2009)
• Unreported World: China/North Korea: The Great Escape (2009). North Koreans flee the border north to China.^[8]
• Hana, dul, sed (2010),^[9] an Austrian documentary about North Korea's national women's soccer team.
• This World: Escaping North Korea (2010). North Koreans risk everything to reach South Korea.^[10]
• North Korean Film Madness (2010), about the North Korean film industry.^[11][12][13]
• Departures (2010)
• The Red Chapel (2010). A Danish documentary about a fictional theatre group who want to perform in North Korea. The same footage was used in the 4-part documentary Det Røde Kapel (2006) and Kim Jong Il's Comedy Club (2009).
• Dictature, paranoïa, famine : bienvenue en Corée du Nord (2010). A 68-minute French documentary (M6 / Enquête exclusive) about a French tourist group visiting North Korea.
• Wide Angle: Crossing Heaven's Border (PBS)
• Seoul Sisters (2011). A Canadian documentary about the situation on the Korean Peninsula. Similar to Seoul Train and hosted by Max Jones, a 13-year-old Felice News co-host and North Korea activist.
• North Korean Labor Camps (2011), about North Korean camps in Siberia.^[14]
• 3 op Reis (2012)^[15]
• Camp 14: Total Control Zone (2012). Director Marc Wiese's portrait of inhumanity chronicles the story of Shin Dong-hyuk, who was born in a North Korean prison camp but escaped at age 23.
• The People's Crisis (2012). A documentary produced by Liberty in North Korea.^[16]
• DPRK: The Land of Whispers (2013)^[17]
• Aim High In Creation! (2013)
• Danny from North Korea (2013). A documentary produced by Liberty in North Korea.^[18]
• The Defector: Escape from North Korea, a 2013 Canadian documentary
• Panorama: North Korea Undercover (2013). John Sweeney for the BBC.^[19]
• Vice On HBO: The Hermit Kingdom (2013) includes a segment on North Korea and also includes documentation of Dennis Rodman meeting Kim Jong-un at a basketball game and then later on for drinks and celebration^[20]
• Panorama: Educating North Korea (2014),^[21] about Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, North Korea's first privately funded university.
• Frontline: Secret State of North Korea (2014)^[22]
• 10 Days in North Korea (2014)
• Songs from the North (2014)
• Enter Pyongyang (2014) Rob Whitworth and Koryo Studio
• 3DPRK (2014) Matt Hulse, Vicky Mohieddeen Koryo Studio
• North Korea, the great illusion (2015),^[23] a 52-minute French documentary, which includes footage from a newly built ski resort as well as interviews with defectors.
• Reizen Waes (2015)^[24]
• The Propaganda Game (2015)
• Under the Sun (2015)
• Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in Pyongyang (2015)
• Diary from North Korea, Documentaries, ORF III, Luca Faccio (2016)
• Cash For Kim: North Koreans Are Working to Their Death in Poland (2016)^[25] reports about North Korean forced laborers in working in shipyards, on construction sites as well as on farms in Poland.
• Meine Brüder und Schwestern im Norden (2016),^[26] a German documentary by Sung-Hyung Cho (a film maker born in South Korea).
• MRS. B. A North Korean woman (2016),^[27] a Korean/French documentary by Jéro Yun
• Michael Palin in North Korea (2018)^[28]
• The Mole: Undercover in North Korea (2020)
• Assassins (2020) about the Assassination of Kim Jong-nam

Drama or fiction[]

• The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)
• Target Zero (1955)
• Jet Attack (1958)
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
• M*A*S*H (1970)
• The Rescue (1988)
• Provocateur (1998)
• Shiri (1999)
• Joint Security Area (2000)
• Die Another Day (2002)
• North Korean Guys (2003)
• Double Agent (Ijung gancheob) (2003)
• Love Impossible (Namnam bungnyeo) (2003)
• Silmido (2003)
• Spy Girl (2004)
• Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War (2004)
• Team America: World Police (2004)
• Stealth (2005)
• Welcome to Dongmakgol (2005) (does not explicitly indicate whether it is set in North Korea)
• Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (2006)
• Comrades in Dreams (2006)
• The Juche Idea (2008). A 62-minute fictionalized mockumentary about the Juche ideology.
• Crossing (2008) Film
• 71: Into the Fire (2010)
• Salt (2010)
• Secret Reunion (2010)
• Dance Town (2011)
• Poongsan (Pungsangae) (2011)
• Winter Butterfly (2011)
• Red Dawn (2012)
• Comrade Kim Goes Flying (2012)
• Meet in Pyongyang (2012)
• Secretly, Greatly (2013)
• Commitment (2013)
• Olympus Has Fallen (2013)
• The Berlin File (2013)
• Red Family (2013)
• The Interview (2014)
• Diplomats (2015)^[29]
• Northern Limit Line (2015)
• The Net (2016)
• Steel Rain (2017)
• The Spy Gone North (2018)
• Crash Landing on You (2019)
• Ashfall (2019)
• The Sacrifice (2020)
• Steel Rain 2: Summit (2020)

Reality[]

• The Amazing Race Vietnam 2019 (2019)^[30]

See also[]

• List of documentary films about the Korean War

References[]