Yonhap Interview) Veteran actress shares real-life drama, lingering dreams

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By Shin Hae-in
SEOUL, April 20 (Yonhap) -- He is the leader of a "rogue" state that rigidly
feeds its nuclear ambitions. He reportedly enslaves his own people and executes
anyone who tries to escape his impoverished land. But actress Choi Eun-hee
recalls North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as an impressive culture devotee so
dedicated that he would write down dance moves on paper.

"He was the first man I met who attempted to make a 'dance notation.' I was
curious how dance moves could be transformed onto paper, but I never stayed to
see it being printed," the South Korean actress said in an interview with Yonhap
News Agency. "Aside from everything else, Chairman Kim was highly communicative
when it came to culture and films. He was a man who learned about the world
through movies."
Having played a gamut of roles from faithful widow to bar girl during her
decades-long acting career, Choi faced a real-life drama stranger than any script
she'd been given when she was kidnapped to Pyongyang in 1978. There, she made 17
films under the North Korean dictator's watchful eyes with her husband director
Shin Sang-ok, who passed away in 2006.
"We were treated well (in North Korea), but could not really pursue an artistic
career," Choi said. "They still call us traitors for fleeing."
The 82-year-old actress made headlines around the world after the abduction by
the North. Kim, a widely known film buff, had wanted director Shin to work as his
propagandist and for Choi to be the star, claiming their talents were being
wasted in South Korea.
Previously divorced in the South, Shin and Choi remarried in Pyongyang and
finally staged their escape in 1986 while on a state-sponsored trip to Vienna,
requesting political asylum through the U.S. embassy. They returned to South
Korea in 1999.
While her husband continued to pursue his film career after returning to Seoul,
Choi has since retired. But she is still regarded as one of the biggest female
stars of the mid-century Golden Era of Korean cinema, having starred in nearly
100 films since her movie debut in 1947.
Choi was also selected as best actress at the Moscow International Film Festival
in 1985 for her part in "Salt (Sogeum)" as one of the very first Korean actresses
to receive an international honor.
"Director Shin seemed happier than I was when I received the award," Choi said
with a smile. "We were like light and shadow as partners. He always trusted me in
acting and left me to make full decision."
Born 1926, Choi was a shy young woman before she stumbled into the world of
acting. Although she led a successful life career-wise, her personal life was not
so glamorous with her first husband, who reportedly was abusive and work-shy.
"My first marriage came when I was too young," Choi recalled.
In 1953, Choi met Shin, then a dashing young director who would later become the
love of her life. What started out to be a platonic relationship between a
director and the married actress took an unexpected turn when observers began to
accuse them of adultery.
"The accusations actually had a reverse effect and we were married shortly
afterwards," Choi said. "He proposed not with 'I love you,' but with 'How would
you like to make movies with me forever?'"
Together, Choi and Shin produced memorable classics such as "Mother and a Guest
in the Room of Master (1961)" and "Bound by Chastity Rules (1962)." But the two
divorced after Shin had an extramarital affair, only to be reunited five years
later.
"When I reunited with him in North Korea, I felt like I had met an army to
protect me in a land so alone and scary," Choi said. "As an artist, I can give
him a full 10 points out of 10. As a husband, director Shin will get a zero. His
whole life was about cinema."
"I can't believe he is gone. I still feel as though he is around me all the
time," she added.
The veteran actress expressed her lingering passion towards acting, saying she
still feels "an urge to run up to the stage" every time she goes to see a play.
Although less known to the public as a director, Choi was also one of Korea's
pioneering women directors who made three features between 1965 and 1972 with
strong female characters dealing with class conflicts.
Choi said directing films remained among her many passions.
"It is such a difficult job to be a female director owing to physical frailty,
but I do sometimes consider the possibility of a return to directing," she said.
hayney@yna.co.kr
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