This World: Access To Evil

This investigative documentary from the thematic BBC series This World allows us to see the horrifyingly absurd reality of life in North Korea. On one hand, in the center of Pyongyang, people are almost continually dancing and singing songs celebrating General Kim Jong Il or standing in line in front of the mausoleum to honor the memory of Kim Il Sung. On the other hand, it is not possible to see a single car on the road, at night the country is plunged into absolute darkness, countless numbers of people starve to death and hundreds of thousands are tortured and executed in concentration camps. In the largest of these, Camp 22, Kwon Hyuk worked for three years as the head prison officer. After successfully escaping to South Korea he decided to appear in front of the camera. His shocking testimony about the conditions in this camp received significant media attention in Great Britain and was the impetus for a debate in the House of Lords. Kwon Hyuk was also personally present during attempts to test biological weapons on prisoners enclosed in glass cells. Reporter Ewa Ewart, in addition to the testimony of Kwon Hyuk, also collected the shocking testimonies of several prisoners who succeeded in surviving the camps and emigrating. In North Korea, under the constant supervision of two secret police, she was able to film people shouting learned phrases full of deeply ingrained and constantly-fed hatred towards the USA.