So we agreed on building a factory outside North Korea that would make weapons and methamphetamine. And as is custom for them, they suggest it will definitely be underground. ibid.
When you’re talking about the business, never use again those words [Arms & Methamphetamine], OK? Storyville: The Mole II, Alejandro to Ulrich, BBC 2020
If this goes down, there are many millions going down. ibid.
So although the true purpose of the project was not revealed to the Africans, buying the island in Uganda and using it for a secret weapons and drugs factory seemed to be right up the alley of the North Koreans. ibid.
North Koreans needing to move armaments to Syria is actually a very interesting piece of information … During the civil war in Syria, The New York Times published a story about how North Korea was helping the Syrian regime with its chemical weapons programme. ibid.
Probably the most impressive private intelligence operation I’ve ever heard of. ibid.
The night I left my home country more than 20 years ago military border guards were patrolling. Storyville: Beyond Utopia: Escape from North Korea, escapee, BBC 2024
This film is about people attempting to escape from one of the most dangerous countries on earth. ibid. caption
Kuala Lumpur, capital of Malaysia: scene of one of the most audacious assassinations in history. The killers: two young women who say they were just part of a prank show. Controlled by a network of North Korean secret agents. The victim: the half-brother of the dictator of North Korea. And behind the assassination, a global web of arms dealing and money laundering for North Korea’s ruling family. This World: North Korea: Murder in the Family, BBC 2017
The dead man was travelling on a North Korean diplomatic passport with the name Kim Chol. ibid.
‘Using the most toxic nerve agent ever created: VX agent.’ ibid.
The 2018 Winter Games … Another Games captivating the world’s attention: the delicate dance between North and South Korea. North Korea: Dangerous Games, National Geographic 2018
The two countries are still technically at war. ibid.
North Korea’s supreme leader is obsessed with sports. ibid.
North Korea shot down the plane in 1987 … Right after the Seoul Olympics in 1988 they are going to have their home version of the Olympics. ibid.
North Korea is the most secretive and isolated nation in the world and its actions have been vexing America for 70 years. Lisa Ling, Inside North Korea: Then and Now, National Geographic 2018
My sister Laura was abducted and imprisoned there while on assignment for Current TV. ibid.
It is estimated King Jung-un has assassinated 140 senior leaders. ibid.
Japan lost Korea in World War II. ibid.
North Korea is roughly the size of Mississippi. It has 25 million people. ibid.
Everyone is trained from birth to love their leaders. ibid.
There’s no way to connect with the outside world. ibid.
The lack of food and its effect on children that’s made the most lasting impression. ibid.
They were called the Stunted Generation. ibid.
It is believed to have the ability to strike any part of America. Inside North Korea: The Kim Dynasty, National Geographic 2018
Accessing news of the outside world is virtually impossible. ibid.
Kim Jung-il continued building a powerful military, the fourth largest in the world. And a nuclear weapons programme that he began to test. ibid.
A police state that is strict and often cruel. ibid.
Pyongyang, North Korea, July 8th 1994: In North Korea a nation is in mourning. Their dictator for the past 48 years, Kim Il-sung, is dead. But the myth of Kim’s divinity concealed a darker truth: behind the facade was a brutal ruler. The regime imprisoned, tortured and killed tens of thousands. Dictators Rulebook s1e1: Kim Il-sung, National Geographic 2018
1910: Japan colonises the country … decades of suffering are about to begin. ibid.
By 1948 the Soviets are convinced Kim has a firm hold on the country and they begin to pull out. ibid.
Kim invades South Korea … a major miscalculation. ibid.
Kim takes out suspected opponents: 2,500 in just four years. ibid.
By the mid-60s Kim Il-sung has created a culture of fear that enveloped 12 million North Koreans. ibid.
The caste system weeds out enemies of the state. ibid.
The demilitarised zone divides the Korean peninsula into North and South at the 38th Parallel. The armies of both sides face each other along the border. This stand-off has continued since the end of the Korean War in 1953. It’s a precarious balance of power that’s often been threatened. The Kim Dynasty, 2018
North Korea’s transformation into a nuclear power should come as no surprise: they’ve been working towards this goal for decades. ibid.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was proclaimed in 1948. In June 1950 North Korea invaded the South. ibid.
The fighting dragged on for 3 years and killed an estimated 2.5 million. ibid.
At 28 his father died and he became the youngest head of state in the world. At 30 he had his uncle killed. And he befriended Dennis Rodman. Inside North Korea’s Dynasty s1e1: Kingdom of the Kims, National Geographic 2018
This is the story of the Kims: a family of dictators. ibid.
Kim’s dream of reuniting Korea was in tatters. In a war that lasted three years his country was flattened. More than a million North Koreans were dead and he’d gained nothing. In 1953 Stalin, the man who’d put him in the job, died. ibid.
So, a potent cocktail of isolation, fear and propaganda put the Kims on the path to becoming gods in the minds of their people. ibid.
The first Kim ruled North Korea as if he were their god. But it was to become increasingly clear that this god wasn’t going to live for ever. Inside North Korea’s Dynasty s1e2
Kim Jong-Il decided he wanted to be the next leader after his father. But all he really knew about was movies. ibid.
His father had twice tried to kill the president of South Korea. ibid.
An opportunity for South Korea to triumph on the world stage: the Olympic Games. ibid.
Between them they have run North Korea for over 70 years, creating their own mythical legend, a communist dynasty. An entire nation lives under their control while they hold the rest of the world to ransom. Inside North Korea’s Dynasty s1e3
Kim Jong-Il had played the nuclear card and taken North Korea to the brink of a new war with America. ibid.
Carter brokers a deal: in return for America’s aid, North Korea promises to suspend its nuclear programme. ibid.
‘Fully five million people face possible starvation’ … This is a crisis Kim Jong-Il will have to face alone. More than half a million people are believed to have died during the famine. ibid. US News
The regime keeps an iron grip over its people. There are numerous prison camps … Some executions are carried out in full public view. ibid.
‘The North Koreans got involved in all kinds of dodgy international dealings’ … North Korea also trafficks narcotics. ibid. expert
In October 2000 Madeleine Albright arrives in Pyonogyang to prepare the ground for a possible historic summit between Kim Jong-Il and President Clinton … Neither side will ever know what could have been. ibid.
Aged just 28, Kim Jung-un became the leader of his country and only the third man to rule North Korea. He took over his father’s nuclear weapons programme and supercharged it. Inside North Korea’s Dynasty s1e4
He spends nine years at school in Switzerland. ibid.
He then turned his attention to the international stage … The test of a rocket capable of reaching Alaska. ibid.
Over the past 12 months North Korea has threatened and flirted with the free world. But the real North Korea remains as secretive as ever. This is the most controlling and repressive regime in the world; contact beyond the border is illegal. And those who disobey risk their life and freedom. Dispatches: North Korea: Life Inside the Secret State, Channel 4 2018
13 November: North Korean soldier escapes to South Korea across the militarised border. ibid.
29 November: North Korea fires ballistic missile. ibid.
Political prison camps hold around 120,000 North Koreans. ibid.
This is the last border of the Cold War, a front line with an ongoing face to face since 1953, the separation of the two Koreans. But since 2008 tension has never been so high. Kim Jong-Il: The Forbidden Biography, History 2011
May 2010: A war of succession is waging, a fight for control of this giant army. ibid.