Kim Jong-Il to watch South Korean film ¡°Joint Security Area¡±

A copy of the South Korean box office hit ¡°Joint Security Area (JSA)¡± will soon be sent to Pyongyang for a private screening for North Korean National Defense Commission Chairman Kim Jong-Il, an official of the Ministry of Unification said Thursday.

An employee of the filmmaker NS21, headed by Kim Bo-Ae, will deliver a copy of JSA to a North Korean businessman in Beijing Thursday. NS21 is now seeking to produce Na Un-Gyu¡¯s ¡°Arirang¡± jointly with North Korea.

The ministry allowed the moviemaker¡¯s request to transfer the film to North Korea on Tuesday. The official said that Myung Film, which made JSA, cooperated in the transfer of the movie.

The official said, ¡°This is the first time that a South Korean film has gone to North Korea with the government¡¯s official approval.¡± In August, the ministry did not issue an official permit when then Culture-Tourism Minister Park Jie-Won brought three copies of South Korean movies, including ¡°Pichonmu,¡± on his visit to Pyongyang with the heads of newspaper and broadcasting companies because they were a form of gift to the North Korean leader.

JSA has attracted over two million viewers in Seoul alone thanks to its emotional depiction of the secret friendship between four South and North Korean soldiers in the Joint Security Area at the truce village of Panmunjom.