North Korea starts making documentary on leader's life
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North Korea has started making its first documentary about Kim Jong Il's life amid renewed speculation about the 67-year-old leader's health and who will inherit leadership of the communist dynasty.
The retrospective film would be a rare acknowledgment that Kim is getting on in years. South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper noted Thursday that the regime began producing a similar 20-part film about Kim's late father, national founder Kim Il Sung, in 1993 — a year before he died of heart failure.
The North's official news media said Wednesday that part one of the multi-part documentary entitled "Shining Sun of Songun (military-first policy)" would feature Kim's "revolutionary feats."
It covers the period from his birth -- allegedly on a sacred mountain -- to his designation as successor to his father Kim Il-Sung, who founded the country.
"This film will help push through with the all-out campaign to build a prosperous socialist state," ChungAng TV said.
South Korean Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo said the series is the first to depict the 67-year-old's entire life.
"However, the government is not in a position to give its interpretation (as to the meaning of this development)," she said.