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Wrestler Movie to Close Tokyo Fest

The joint South Korean-Japanese movie "Rikidozan" will close the 18th Tokyo International Film Festival set to open next month.

The film is about the Korean-born wrestler Rikidozan, who was barred from Japanese sumo because of his ethnicity but became a sensation in the United States in the 1950s.

He was born Kim Shin-rak in South Hamgyeong Province in present-day North Korea in 1924.

Making his way back to Japan to bring pro wrestling, he earned cheers from Japanese fans for what they believed was his conquest of the United States, their World War II enemy.

He died in 1963 from peritonitis after being stabbed by a Japanese gangster.

The film festival will open on October 22nd for a nine-day run.

Reported by KBS World Radio

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