Kim Jong-il, the leader of North Korea, abducted a well-known South Korean actress from Hong Kong in 1978 so that she might star in films for the North. Her director husband travelled to Hong Kong to look into things and ended up being abducted as well. The pair was brought to North Korea, where they were made to work on propaganda films for the government.
They eventually managed to get away and go back to South Korea. The episode caused the North Korean authorities great embarrassment and added to the country's reputation as a secretive and oppressive state.