From the North Korean gulags to the stage

SEOUL - It's possibly the oddest musical since a Mel Brooks character pitched Springtime for Hitler in The Producers. Its director had to use his own kidney as collateral to have it made. And its hit song is All I want is rice.

Nevertheless, Yoduk Story hit the stage in Seoul to give an all-singing vision of life in North Korea's gulags.

The creation of Jung Sung San, a North Korean refugee, it is named after a real-life prison camp, and provides an irony-free take on life in a country lacking many human rights.

In an attempt to see his creation performed, Jung, 37, dealt with a hostile South Korean Government, and a funding shortfall which forced him to pledge his kidney to secure a loan.

He also has the knowledge that he may have caused the death of his father, who is the inspiration behind the musical, which has just begun its run in the South Korean capital.

Jung's father was executed in a prison camp, following the defection of his son in 1995. Under North Korean law, family members are punished for the crimes of their relatives.

"Before they killed my father, the people who ordered his death told him, 'you are dying because of your son. There are bound to be informers here, let him know', defectors later told me." Jung says news of his father's death was the turning point in his life.

With a soaring score, the plot centres on an actress imprisoned for the "crimes" of her father.

The musical makes allusions to North Korea's cult of personality, shortages and abuse of human rights.

It is the second time Yoduk has been brought to attention after another defector, Kang Chol Hwan, gave an account of 10 years there in his book The Aquariums of Pyongyang.

The musical also draws on the experience of the show's choreographer, North Korean defector Kim Young Soon, who was also imprisoned at Yoduk, but was never told what "crime" she had committed.

She suspects that it may have been because she was one of very few North Koreans who became aware that a classmate at her dancing school had become the mistress of Kim Jong Il, the North Korean leader.

"I had tears of blood stored up which cannot be contained in two hours of theatre," she said.

Seoul is wary of upsetting the communist country. Financial backers and a theatre which had pledged to stage the musical withdrew their support and despite donations, it was not enough. So Jung has staked his kidney against a US$20,000 ($31,000) loan with the money due to be repaid, or the kidney donated after the show's three-week run.

- INDEPENDENT