He's probably there against his will (although we don't know), but does he have a good life? Being Kim Jong-un's private teacher, I'd say he probably does.
Anyway, didn't Kim Jong-un study in Switzerland or something like that? How come he doesn't know English?
It's a gilded cage. At any moment he and his family could be incarcerated or killed for saying the wrong thing. Quite possibly his wife is a spy, and even if she isn't he probably suspects her.
I'd recommend listening to act one from This American Life ep. 556 (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/556/s...). They interview two people captured by Kim Jong-Il to make movies. It sounded like a pretty easy life, but there's no joy in it if you can't leave.
Don't think he would have a good life, maybe compared to their residents. We just learned that they executed their vice premier of education, now this person is directly responsible for part of Kim's education.
Not sure being held against your will, out of touch with your friends and family, unable to visit much less talk to them, can be dismissed as a "good life", no matter what you are provided with materially.
Or to take a less extreme example than this (in some ways), Ed Snowden might make good money on the speaking circuit, but even then, would any of us envy being effectively exiled from our home, never allowed to return?
Adapting to a new place or a new culture can be psychologically hard even when you want to do it.
Exile or imprisonment is pretty cruel under any circumstances.
I don't think it's a good life to be kept somewhere and not allowed to leave. Especially while knowing that if you don't please your captor he can have you killed whenever he likes.
There is a book by an actress that got kidnapped and had to make films for Kim Jong Il with her also kidnapped divorced husband. Not a good life.
It might be an OK life if he didn't have to worship "Mr. Great Leader," but I would probably kill myself before being forced into a ridiculous life such as that.
Want there something about a previous NK leader kidnapping a South Korean actor and actress to satisfy his own whims about creating more movies with them in the lead roles?
I think what you're referring to was a South Korean actress and her ex-husband filmmaker being abducted back in the '70s. There's a book titled A Kim Jong-Il Production: The Extraordinary True Story of a Kidnapped Filmmaker, His Star Actress, and a Young Dictator's Rise to Power about this story, pretty fascinating.
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[ 1.9 ms ] story [ 60.4 ms ] threadAnyway, didn't Kim Jong-un study in Switzerland or something like that? How come he doesn't know English?
Or to take a less extreme example than this (in some ways), Ed Snowden might make good money on the speaking circuit, but even then, would any of us envy being effectively exiled from our home, never allowed to return?
Adapting to a new place or a new culture can be psychologically hard even when you want to do it.
Exile or imprisonment is pretty cruel under any circumstances.
There is a book by an actress that got kidnapped and had to make films for Kim Jong Il with her also kidnapped divorced husband. Not a good life.
This is almost as strange.