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Break UN sanctions: “They are desperate”
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A new documentary shows how North Korea sells drugs and military weapons.
Drawings of an underground arms factory in Uganda were displayed at the North Korean embassy in Stockholm.
“This film is the worst humiliation of Kim Jong-un we have ever seen,” UN expert Hugh Griffiths told the BBC.
For almost ten years, Ulrich Larsen, a chef from Copenhagen, has infiltrated North Korea. Danish Mads Brügger’s documentary was published this morning by SVT’s “Foreign Documents” and in several other countries.
Ulrich Larsen started out by joining the Danish branch of the international association of friends of North Korea KFA. Larsen got in touch with the association’s founder, Alejandro Cao de Benós, a Spaniard with close ties to the dictatorship.
Photo: SVT
For almost ten years, the Dane Ulrich Larsen has infiltrated North Korea.
After Ulrich Larsen’s double game was revealed, the mole lives in a secret location.
– It is my secret what is happening to me and my family now. I feel safe and secure. Now I long to see how the documentary is received, Ulrich Larsen tells DN.
Photo: SVT
A meeting was arranged with “Mr. James”, a bogus Danish businessman.
“You don’t need to follow any rules”
Soon, the “mole” was asked to try to find entrepreneurs who wanted to invest in North Korea. Which is illegal with the strict UN sanctions against the dictatorship.
A meeting was arranged with “Mr. James”, a bogus Danish businessman.
– Our advantage is that the DPRK is the only country in the world that does not have to follow anybody’s rules. What you do in the DPRK stays in the DPRK. No one can touch their accounts or assets, not even Interpol, says Alejandro Cao de Benós in the meeting that is secretly recorded.
The Spaniard claimed that North Korea can build and sell submarine factories and tank factories. And it also offers pharmaceuticals that are banned in all other countries, like methamphetamine.
Photo: SVT
In a basement restaurant, a price list of heavy military weapons such as grenades, tanks, and scudrobots was presented.
Photo: SVT
Images of “Documents from abroad”.
Photo: SVT
Images of “Documents from abroad”.
Weapon menu with scudrobots
In January 2017, the mole Ulrich Larsen and the fake businessman Mr. James to Pyongyang. In a basement restaurant, a price list of heavy military weapons such as grenades, tanks and scudrobots was presented.
– At my current job, I haven’t seen such a list before. I’ve seen something similar in other contexts, but it’s honestly surprising to see such a list exists, Pieter Wezeman, principal investigator at the Sipri peace research institute, tells SVT News.
“Mr. James” agreed with the North Korean contacts to build a factory in Uganda. It would be located on an island in Lake Victoria, the locals would be displaced, and from the air it would look like a luxury hotel. But underground weapons would be manufactured and methamphetamine.
Drawings displayed at the embassy in Stockholm
The story also has Swedish branches. At the North Korean embassy in Stockholm, mole Ulrich Larsen received drawings of the proposed factory in Uganda.
– Keep it confidential. If something happens, the embassy does not know about this, says the ambassador in the hidden recording.
Hugh Griffiths, who led the UN panel of experts on North Korea between 2014 and 2019, says the information in the documentary is “very credible” and consistent with previously known information.
– This shows that UN sanctions work. “The North Koreans are obviously desperate to sell their weapons,” Hugh Griffiths told the BBC.
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