
Kim Jong-il
Actor · 1941 – 2011 · Khabarovsk, USSR
Kim Jong Il, born Yuri Irsenovich Kim on 16 February 1941, was a North Korean politician who was the second President of North Korea. He led North Korea following the death of his father Kim Il Sung in 1994 until his own death in 2011, when he was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Un. Afterwards, Kim Jong Il was declared Eternal General Secretary of the WPK. In the early 1980s, Kim had become the heir apparent for the leadership of North Korea, thus being established the Kim dynasty and he assumed important posts in party and army organizations. Kim was the General Secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), WPK Presidium, Chairman of the National Defense Commission (NDC) of North Korea and the Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army (KPA), the fourth-largest standing army in the world. Kim assumed leadership during a period of catastrophic economic crisis amidst the dissolution of the Soviet Union, on which it was heavily dependent for trade in food and other supplies, which brought a famine. Kim strengthened the role of the military by his Songun ("military-first") policies, making the army the central organizer of civil society. Kim's rule also saw economic reforms, including the opening of the Kaesong Industrial Park in 2003. Following Kim's failure to appear at important public events in 2008, foreign observers assumed that Kim had either fallen seriously ill or died. On 19 December 2011, the North Korean government announced that he had died two days earlier, whereupon his third son, Kim Jong Un, was promoted to a senior position in the ruling WPK and succeeded him.
Movies18
Movie6.4DocumentaryPrediction markets let anyone bet on anything, from the World Cup to alien invasions. "Instadocs" investigates the explosive rise of global betting.
Instadocs: The Prediction Games
2026 · 5 votes
Movie7.7DocumentaryHistoryA courageous pastor uses his underground network to rescue and aid North Korean families as they risk their lives to embrace freedom.
Beyond Utopia
2023 · 70 votes
Movie7.8DocumentaryWarShedding new light on a geopolitical hot spot, the film — written and produced by John Maggio and narrated by Korean-American actor John Cho — confronts the myth of the “Forgotten War,” documenting the post-1953 conflict and global consequences.
Korea: The Never-Ending War
2019 · 15 votes
Movie7.0DocumentaryFrom groundbreaking human cloning research to a scandalous downfall, this documentary tells the captivating story of Korea's most notorious scientist.
King of Clones
2023 · 37 votes
Movie5.6DramaCrimeA fictional investigative documentary looks back on the "assassination" of George W. Bush and attempts to answer the question of who committed the murder. Perhaps less morbid and disturbing to watch now than during Bush's presidency, the film doesn't address Bush's policies at all, instead focusing on the way a nation assigns blame in a time of crisis.
Death of a President
2006 · 82 votes
Movie5.5DocumentaryA contemporary history of Korea(s) from a unique point of view that embraces the inner history of both South and North Korea in a single narrative.
Movie7.0DocumentaryHistoryHong Kong, 1978. South Korean actress Choi Eun-hee is kidnapped by North Korean operatives following orders from dictator Kim Jong-il.
The Lovers and the Despot
2016 · 33 votes
Movie6.2DocumentaryA journey through Kim Jong Un’s past and present to understand the man and the myth who holds North Korea’s uncertain future in his hands.
North Korea: Inside The Mind of a Dictator
2021 · 10 votes
Movie6.3DocumentaryDennis Rodman is on a mission. After forging an unlikely friendship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, he wants to improve relations between North Korea and the US by staging a historic basketball game between the two countries. But the North Korean team isn't the only opposition he'll face... Condemned by the NBA and The Whitehouse, and hounded every step of the way by the press, can Dennis keep it together and make the game happen? Or will it go up in a mushroom cloud of smoke? For the first time, discover the true story of what happened when Dennis Rodman took a team of former-NBA players to North Korea and staged the most controversial game of basketball the world has never seen.
Dennis Rodman's Big Bang in PyongYang
2015 · 25 votes
Movie7.5DocumentaryHistoryA journey through several countries to find those who really know Kim Jong-un, North Korea's leader, in an attempt to profile a contradictory dictator who seems to rule his nation with both disturbing benevolence and cold cruelty while being worshipped as a living god by his subjects in exalted displays of ridiculous fanaticism.
Movie6.5DocumentaryTV MovieThey’ve become the human face of inhuman barbarity. Leaders like Hitler, Idi Amin Dada, Stalin, Kim Jong Il, Saddam Hussein, Nicolae Ceausescu, Bokassa, Muammar Kadhafi, Khomeini, Mussolini and Franco governed their countries completely cut off from reality. These paranoid leaders were driven to abuse their power by the pathology of power itself. Dictators are driven by a relentless, thought-out determination to impose themselves as infallible, all-knowing and all-powerful beings. But they are also men ruled by their caprices, uncontrollable impulses, and reckless fits of frenzy, which paradoxically render them as human as anyone else. The abuses they committed were clearly atrocious, yet some of them were as outlandish as the characters portrayed in the film The Dictator. They sunk to depths worthy of Kafka: so incredibly absurd, they are outrageously funny.
Movie7.2ComedyDocumentaryTwo Danish comedians join the director on a trip to North Korea, where they have been allowed access under the pretext of wanting to perform a vaudeville act.
Movie7.8DocumentaryMusicTwo young North Korean gymnasts prepare for an unprecedented competition in this documentary that offers a rare look into the communist society and the daily lives of North Korean families. For more than eight months, film crews follow 13-year-old Pak Hyon Sun and 11-year-old Kim Song Yun and their families as the girls train for the Mass Games, a spectacular nationalist celebration.
A State of Mind
2005 · 25 votes
Movie8.0DocumentaryDefilada was made on the occasion of the 40th anniversary celebrations of state's founding in North Korea, which the regime intended to use to eclipse the 1988 Summer Olympics taking place that year in Seoul, South Korea. The North Korean regime invited filmmakers from countries then considered friendly (read: Communist), including People's Republic of Poland, which sent a team under Andrzej Fidyk. The documentary is primarily composed of declarative statements, as well as texts of North Korean newspapers and books. There was no author's commentary. Fidyk commented that he and his team were likely “the most disciplined” foreign team of filmmakers in North Korea, as they did not trouble the regime by looking under the surface - they were content with what they were given and asked to do. (Wikipedia)
Movie6.9DocumentaryNorth Korea. The last communist country in the world. Unknown, hermetic and fascinating. Formerly known as “The Hermit Kingdom” for its attempts to remain isolated, North Korea is one of the largest sources of instability as regards world peace. It also has the most militarized border in the world, and the flow of impartial information, both going in and out, is practically non-existent. As the recent Sony-leaks has shown, it is the perfect setting for a propaganda war.
The Propaganda Game
2015 · 154 votes
Movie7.5DocumentaryRecording a 24-hour period throughout every country in the world, we explore a greater diversity of perspectives than ever seen before on screen. We follow characters and events that evolve throughout the day, interspersed with expansive global montages that explore the progression of life from birth, to death, to birth again. In the end, despite unprecedented challenges and tragedies throughout the world, we are reminded that every day we are alive there is hope and a choice to see a better future together. Founded in 2008, it set out to explore our planet's identity and challenges in an attempt to answer the question: Who are we?
One Day on Earth
2012 · 8 votes
Movie6.6AnimationDocumentaryOperating under a pseudonym which means 'no boundaries' - North Korean defector Sun Mu creates political pop art based on his life, homeland, and hope for a future united Korea. His hidden identity is nearly compromised when a massive historical exhibit in Beijing is shuttered by Chinese and North Korean authorities.
Movie6.0DocumentaryA documentary highlighting how both Kim il-Sung and Kim Jong-il work for the prosperity of the juche system and North Korean people.
Series4
TV8.5MysteryDramaChildren who live in hiding with superpowers, along with their parents who live with painful secrets of the past, face enormous dangers together.
TV9.0DocumentaryNHK WORLD PRIME brings you a world of mainly documentaries, and more. Tune in to see special select programs on all sorts of topics and genres.
NHK WORLD PRIME
2017 · 1 votes
TV7.3DocumentaryWar & PoliticsThe documentary series explores different political figures throughout history.
How to Become a Tyrant
2021 · 253 votes
TV6.9DocumentaryWar & PoliticsThe spy game is a serious business, and throughout history, the tools and technologies developed for it have mattered as much as the spies themselves.
Spycraft
2021 · 108 votes