It sounds like the plot of a bad Hollywood movie: a Danish chef in early retirement is said to have secretly infiltrated and filmed North Korean operations abroad for a documentary over a period of ten years. But that’s not all: according to a recent BBC report Ulrich Larsen even landed a contract to set up an underground factory for the production of drugs and weapons during this time.
“The Mole – Undercover in North Korea”, which was broadcast simultaneously on Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and British television yesterday (here in full length, unfortunately only with British IP address) shows hidden camera footage taken by a wired Ulrich Larsen at meetings in Europe and North Korea over the past few years. The documentary was directed by Danish filmmaker Mads Brügger, who hired the bearded ex-foreign legionnaire Jim Latrache-Qvortrup (who had spent eight years in prison for drug trafficking) as a credible and fully authorized representative of an international arms dealer named “Mr. James” who remains in the background. Mr. James then accompanied Larsen to meetings in Uganda, Spain, Sweden and Norway and finally, during a visit to Pyongyang, signed a contract with North Korean government representatives and officials present to set up an arms factory on a Ugandan island. Hard to believe, as the North Koreans knew the Western businessmen and supposed investors only vaguely at best, but apparently had no qualms about concluding the deal anyway.
Larsen, who had to give up work due to chronic inflammation of his pancreas, had become curious about the strange and closed regime of North Korea and joined the so-called “Korean Friendship Association” (KFA) during his convalescence. “When I started, I became curious. Is this possible? Are they real? And I think sometimes it’s healthy to sniff at something just because it seems exciting,” says Larsen. In the KFA, he says he came into contact with the Spanish nobleman Alejandro Cao de Benós, who presented himself as the “goalkeeper of North Korea in the West”. In 2013, Cao De Benós finally offered Larsen three interesting investment projects with North Korea if he could find “investors” with more than 50,000 euros in capital. On Sunday evening, Hugh Griffiths, the coordinator of the UN Panel of Experts on North Korea between 2014 and 2019, was also interviewed about the film on the BBC evening news. He said he found the documentary “very credible”. “This movie is the biggest embarrassment for Chairman Kim Jong-un that we have ever seen. Just because it appears amateurish in parts does not mean that the urgent intention to generate foreign exchange earnings and sell weapons is not there. Elements of the film really correspond to what we have known for years about how North Korea works to circumvent and neutralize UN sanctions through its embassies, consulates or friendship societies. In a wild mixture, they are desperate, stupid – but also dangerous. Desperate, apparently, because they urgently need to obtain Western foreign currency. Stupid, because they are going through weapons catalogs, including ballistic missiles, in the basement of a club with people they don’t even know a little, if at all. But it’s also dangerous, because it shows their unconcerned willingness to actually sell all the weapons in the catalogs. The bearded arms dealer actor and his friends – they could have been terrorists, even representatives of IS!”
Larsen has now told DR that he expects consequences after the film is broadcast. “Some people will be pretty angry, but no wonder, I lied to them unbelievably. I hope they don’t now decide that I should learn a lesson and that they don’t think of sending someone after me. Anyway, my wife knows nothing about the matter – just to be on the safe side. Besides, she would probably even have thrown me out.”
Meanwhile, also yesterday, North Korea’s head of state Kim Jong-un celebrated the 75th anniversary of the reign of “his” Communist Party of North Korea with an unusual night military parade. Among other things, a new, even larger, indeed the largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to date, 24 meters long and 2.5 meters in diameter, paraded past on an – also a first – eleven-axle vehicle. If this is a liquid propellant weapon, the dimensions would indicate almost 100 tons of propellant. In his speech, Kim apologized to his people because he could not offer them the standard of living and well-being that they should have everywhere – and here he himself mentioned the UN sanctions. His solution: even more investment in the army! After all, the armed forces are the guarantor of greater security and well-being!
