, Columnist
Negotiate with North Korea? A Russian Tried
A filmmaker who made the most revealing movie about North Korea doesn't believe conventional tactics can work.
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Negotiating with North Korea about the future of its nuclear program is often mentioned as an alternative to a military intervention. Neither is a viable option, says Vitaly Mansky, one of the few people who know first-hand what it's like to negotiate with North Koreans and achieve a measure of success.
In May 2013, Mansky's documentary production company signed a deal with the Korea Film Export & Import Corporation, a North Korean government agency, to jointly make a movie called "Under the Sun." The Koreans probably didn't catch on to the fact that Mansky's company was named after Dziga Vertov, the early 20th-century filmmaker who pioneered the use of the hidden camera.