A South Korean movie director has offered his blockbuster film to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il for free as a gift to mark an impending summit - if children in the Stalinist state can see it too.
Shim Hyung-Rae, director of Dragon Wars: D-War, said he was willing to make the fantasy film one of the gifts to be taken by South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun to Pyongyang next month for a summit with reported cinema buff Kim.
"I will send the film to the North for free but I hope Chairman Kim Jong-Il should not have it to himself but allow North Korean children to see it as well," Shim was quoted as saying in Moneytoday, an Internet news portal.
PHOTO: AFP
Dragon Wars has attracted more than eight million viewers in South Korea since its release several weeks ago.
It has also been screened in the United States, sparking criticism of its allegedly poor script, hollow acting and a loose plot.
News reports have said South Korea was mulling a cutting-edge home theatre system and DVDs of South Korean hit movies as summit gifts for the reclusive Kim.
The North Korean leader is known to be a movie fanatic. He is said to have a collection of over 20,000 foreign films in his private library and reportedly produced several films himself, mostly depicting revolutionary heroes.
His obsession with developing North Korea's film industry was so great that in 1978 he reportedly ordered North Korean agents to abduct a famous South Korean movie director, Shin Sang-Ok, and his ex-wife, actress Che Eun Hui.
The couple stayed in the Communist state for eight years while making propaganda films. They escaped in 1986 and wrote a memoir about their saga. (AFP)
一位南韓電影導演同意將他的賣座電影，免費送給北韓領導人金正日，作為即將召開的兩韓高峰會的見面禮。不過前提是此部電影要讓這個史達林式共產國家的孩童也能夠觀賞。
《魔龍戰役》導演沈炯來說，他願意讓下個月將前往平壤參加高峰會的南韓總統盧武鉉，將這部科幻片當成禮物送給據稱愛看電影的金正日。
南韓網路新聞入口網站《Moneytoday》引述沈炯來的話說：「我將把這部電影免費寄給北韓，不過我希望領導人金正日不會占為己有，而是讓北韓孩童也能觀賞。」
《魔龍戰役》數星期前在南韓上映以來，已吸引了八百多萬人次觀賞。
此片也在美國上映，不過其乏善可陳的劇本、空泛的演技與鬆散的劇情引起爭議。
新聞報導指出，南韓正研議要將一套最先進的家庭劇院設備與許多南韓強檔電影光碟，當作高峰會的見面禮送給隱居的金正日。
據報導指出這位北韓領導人十分熱愛電影。報導還說他在其私人圖書館中蒐藏了超過兩萬套外國影片，而且據稱他還自己製作數部電影，大部分是以描寫革命英雄為題材。
他對於發展北韓電影工業十分癡狂，據報導說他在一九七八年曾下令北韓特務綁架南韓知名電影導演申相玉及其明星前妻崔銀姬。
他們兩位留在共產北韓八年，並拍攝宣傳影片。他們在一九八六年逃離北韓，並寫下回憶錄記錄這段傳奇的經歷。
（法新社╱翻譯：艾利斯）
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