North Korea's Godzilla Rip-off Pulgasari and the Kidnapped Director Who Made It

The story of how North Korea forced a kidnapped director to make what was essentially a Godzilla film, even including basically kidnapping the team that made Godzilla's special effects to work on the film, starts back in 1978.

In 1978, Kim Jong-Il, the designated successor to the dictator of North Korea, Kim Il-Sung, was overseeing North Korea's film production. Wishing to improve the quality of the films his directors and actors were producing, he decided to kidnap one of the South Korea's most famous directors, Shin Sang-ok, along with one of South Korea's most famous actresses, Choi Eun-hee (Shin's ex-wife), and force them to make movies in North Korea.

They were trapped in North Korea for seven years before managing to escape by fleeing to the American embassy in Vienna, narrowly escaping their North Korean guards. But before they were able to escape, they created one of the most famous pieces of cinema ever to come from North Korea.