A reader reminds me:  National Geographic Explorer is airing a special tonight at 9 p.m., “Inside North Korea.”  This program, done by Lisa Ling while traveling undercover, is not going to be the standard guided tour we’ve come to expect from the networks.  Do yourself a favor and read NGEO’s teaser.  This one looks good.

Update:  It is good.  Channel 109 on Comcast.

Update 2:  This was definitely one of the best NK docus I’ve seen, if for no other reason than what it says about just how skeptical you should be about every piece of film that comes out of North Korea.  “A State of Mind” received a dishonorable mention.  I can’t be certain, but believe I have met the soldier who told the horrible story of his escape, last April at the Korean War Memorial.  If I’d known then what I know now, I would have kept the guy’s address and stayed in touch with him. 

I think the kicker had to be seeing the reactions of people whose sight was restored by the Nepalese doctor.  Whom did they thank?  Why, the portrait of His Porcine Majesty, of course!  One woman – and I am absolutely not making this up – promised the Dear Leader’s icon that she would to work harder in the salt mines.  One old guy promised the icons that he’d thank them by slaughtering all of the evil Yankees, and on some ceremonial level, he looked like he meant it, like the “two minutes’ hate” in “1984.”  You still couldn’t help pitying the whole joyless, shriveled lot of them. 

It’s hard to say how much of this is fear, how much is Kool-Aid, and how much is genuine.  Most likely, it’s a complex and partially unfathomable blend of all three.  This crap would have made no sense to me a decade ago.  But since then, I’ve lived in South Korea, and I’ve seen some South Koreans act almost as wacky even without the fear of ending up in Camp 22.

Update 3:  And Lisa Ling.  What is not to like about her, on any level? 

Update 4:  The Chosun Ilbo has the story.  How will Koreans react?  My very apolitical wife was visibly moved by the stories of the defectors, and absolutely flummoxed by the behavior of the North Koreans.  Unfortunately, there was no info on when the show will be broadcast or rebroadcast in Korea.