The “mole” reveals the struggle of a weakened elite to survive. – NRK Documentary

Do a search on North Korea and diplomats. Google algorithms give you the following findings:

• Diplomats executed
• Diplomats and drug trafficking
• Diplomats jumped

Infiltrating North Korean diplomacy does not seem like the obvious first choice after such a search. Especially not if you are a Danish chef with disability benefits.

Isn’t this a world that belongs to hardened criminals, state-backed spies, and unscrupulous businessmen?

Already.

How is this possible then?

Ulrich Løvenskjold Larsen just has his own life in a quiet place in Denmark as a cover story. Still, he succeeds. Ulrich’s story as a private “mole” provides insight into an elite’s struggle for its own survival.

The struggle of a dictatorship for existence

North Korea’s politics and role in the world have focused on survival for three decades.

The important year is 1991. The collapse of the Soviet Union left North Korea alone. They lost their most important financial contributor.

North Korea was one of the most successful states in the part of the world where the Soviet Union had the most influence. Relations with China have fluctuated. It is not yet based on mutual trust.

The mystery surrounding the country’s two deceased leaders, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, and the current leader Kim Jong-un, is the result of the country’s isolation after 1991. It is also a useful tool.

The worship of the people increased in strength in parallel with the increase in poverty. Access to leadership is capital for a select few.

Sudden outbursts, unannounced rocket test launches, and diplomatic withdrawals have created the image of an irrational actor. The truth is that North Korea is driven by two very rational goals.

• Ensure diplomatic recognition and a non-aggression pact with the United States.
• Securing income and capital for the continued operation of the state of North Korea.

We see the first attempts at the summits between Kim Jong-un and President Trump.

The bargaining chip is the threat of developing nuclear weapons that could affect the United States, Japan and Europe.

Diplomatic entrepreneurs

In the money-making job, the regime keeps a lower profile.

However, the documentary “The Mole” shows that North Korea’s efforts are no less spectacular in this area. This is where friendship associations and chambers of commerce come in. Often under the direction of North Korea’s own diplomatic envoys. Trusted foreign players can also be important.

Ulrich’s little genius is that he understands that these associations can creep both ways. You easily get started by joining the North Korean Friendship Association in Denmark. An assembly somewhat tired of what may seem like old and somewhat harmless communists.

A little later, Ulrich travels to North Korea. With the help of Spanish actor and North Korean ally, the “spider” Alejandro Cao de Benos, he rises in the hierarchy of North Korean friends. The Spanish is the leader of KFA, the friendship association of North Korea in Europe.

Ulrich’s experiences during his first visit to North Korea:

• The order not to film at the airport after landing.
• The message that you are invited as friends, but we don’t know for sure if we can trust you.
• Without shame being told that they can be spies.

All of this is authentic. It is almost identical to what I myself experienced when the Chinese NRK photographer and I landed in 2005 in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. Then as Asian correspondent to cover the visit of then Secretary of State Vidar Helgesen.

In a few days they know each other a little better and the atmosphere is more relaxed, but trust and intimacy are far away.

An ordinary dane

In all his meetings, Ulrich’s advantage is that he constantly plays a version of himself. An ordinary Dane.

Through Alejandro Cao De Benos, Ulrich gains trust and awards. This opens doors and provides a form of security clearance in Pyongyang.

Draw «Mr. James’, a fictional businessman. “Sir. James is portrayed by a convicted cocaine dealer. From what we can see in the film, neither” Mr. James “or his alleged company did a thorough background check.

How is this possible? It seems unlikely in a country as characterized by surveillance and control as North Korea.

Storage

Parallel to the cult of personality around the Kim dynasty, the regime has also cultivated its own ideology. It’s called “Juche”. In all simplicity, “Juche” means self-salvation. Necessary for a country that first saw itself as part of a class of oppressed countries.

Embassies play a role in promoting this ideology. They are somewhat close to franchise business in state business operations. The higher the earnings, the greater the degree of independence. The gains give Pyongyang confidence. It reduces the possibility of being called home from the most privileged life abroad.

Smuggling and trading in counterfeit dollar bills, counterfeit cigarettes, and alcohol are among the best-known niche companies.

Norway, along with Sweden, Finland and Denmark, expelled diplomats from North Korea as early as 1976 for illegal activities and smuggling.

Professor Sheena Chestnut Greitens from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at Teaxs University published a comprehensive review of Project Muse. His research shows how smuggling has been a part of the North Korean state economy since the 1970s.

The “mole” gets information about a more serious business. Production and sale of synthetic drugs, weapons and weapons technology.

Ulrich presents «Mr. James ”after Alejandro Cao De Benos asks if he can network with wealthy people interested in investing in North Korea.

This happens in a hotel in Oslo.

The eccentric and charismatic «Mr. James’ plays his part well. He and Ulrich step into North Korea’s highly selective global network.

New use of old links to the world

North Korea established its first embassies in other communist countries.

Following the German merger in 1990, this includes the most powerful country in the EU, Germany. Berlin does not play a significant role in Ulrichs and “Mr. James, but the question of what happened to the former leaders of the GDR is important.

The unfortunate fate of the GDR elite is itself an explanation as to why the North Korean elite is willing to do everything possible to ensure its own continuation.

After the communist countries, North Korea during the 1960s and 1970s forged diplomatic ties with recently liberated former African colonies. They also opened embassies in non-aligned countries like Sweden.

Ulrich and “Mr. James »gains more confidence. Little by little they are invited to be part of a triangle of planned outings.

Part of the plan is to build an underground weapons factory and a drug factory. North Korea proposes to build the factory in Uganda. “Mr James” finds an island for sale in Lake Victoria. What does it say about North Korea that you think “Mr. James »is he your partner in this project?

Interestingly, it is at the North Korean embassy in Stockholm that the factory plans are delivered to Ulrich. Do you feel less controlled here than, for example, in Beijing?

The factory will be built using North Korean contacts in Uganda. North Korea will supply technology and parts. Perhaps gambling speaks of a regime in trouble? A state that is willing to take a high risk to raise the money they desperately need.

Gun oil

It does not stop here. “Sir. James” is asked to be a liaison for arms sales to the civil war in Syria. Payment is oil to be shipped to North Korea. It may not be about trusting “Mr. James.” It is more of an image of a state that does not have as many actors to play in its attempts to avoid international sanctions.

The hedging operation and contact with North Korean agents will be interrupted before any transaction takes place.

We will never know if North Korea would have exposed the hoax. Did they delude themselves? Or if, for example, Chinese intelligence or the CIA in the United States followed. Did they capture the activities?

Uganda has received more frequent visits from North Korean military envoys in recent years. In recent years, Uganda has also been reluctant to cooperate with the UN Panel on North Korea.

In its annual report, the panel mentions the tourist hotel to be built over the arms factory on the island of Lake Victoria.

The former chair of the expert panel is Hugh Griffiths. For five years, he oversaw the UN sanctions against Pyongyang. You are now in a freer position to comment.

Is there a real “Mr. or Mrs James’?

In an interview with NRK, SVT, and DR, Griffiths says that the story of “The Mole” is more wonderful than fiction. According to Griffiths, the willingness to transact with a businessman they never control is an indication of the degree of desperation in North Korea. It also says a lot about how far individual North Korean state representatives are willing to go.

We don’t know if there is one or more “Mr. James”. Unscrupulous and real business people. Willing to help North Korea raise money and resources that the regime desperately needs.

We know more about the vulnerability of the regime after the movie “The Mole.” What we know nothing definitive about is the continuation of North Korea.