Original subtitles

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Downloaded from YTS.LT

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Official YIFY movies site: YTS.LT

NARRATOR: This small nation of 25 million

has waltzed on the world stage for over 70 years.

Despite all odds.

♪♪

The key to North Korea's survival is totalitarian control

and a hereditary bloodline that dictates the next leader.

♪♪

♪♪

FIFIELD: North Korea has defied all expectations

and predictions for decades.

Their system is one that you know, by rights,

should have collapsed decades ago,

It survived the end of the Soviet Union

and the move of China into becoming a capitalist powerhouse.

There was a huge famine that was debilitating in North Korea.

♪♪

In one of the few remaining

Communist and military dictatorships in the world,

there are three constants --

A Kim has always ruled.

Anyone questioning their rule is swiftly killed

or sent to hard labor.

And any influence or knowledge of the outside world

is prohibited.

♪♪

♪♪

LEE: We call North Korea a communist country,

they call it a socialist country.

But I really see it as an absolute monarchy

and a royal dynasty of sorts,

with the Kim family as -- as the royal family.

♪♪

The very first Kim to rule, Kim Il-sung,

took a page from the Soviet Union's playbook

and began to create his own Socialist paradise.

♪♪

♪♪

Kim Il-sung was installed as the president

of this newly formed state of North Korea in 1948,

and he was supposed to be a kind of lackey for Joseph Stalin

there in North Korea, but he very quickly set about

developing a cult of personality around him

that was independent of the Soviet system,

in a way that worried even the Soviets in the 1960s.

They went well beyond anything that even Stalin did.

But they also borrowed very heavily

from other traditions in the region,

so they borrowed Confucian traditions from China

that had prized hierarchy and maleness seniority there.

They also took some parts of the Choson dynasty

that had been the last kind of imperial system

on the Korean Peninsula before them.

They also borrowed quite heavily from Christianity.

♪♪

So he kind of picked and chose from all sorts of traditions

to create a whole new kind of cult of personality

that he thought could kind of gain a following in that area.

♪♪

Kim Il-sung, the founder of the country,

was essentially treated, seen, and continues to be seen

as a semi-god, if not god.

This all falls within the Kim Il-sung-ism.

It's essentially a religion.

So people pray to him, they thank him.

You know, he is -- he is their god.

♪♪

And according to the state ideology or the myth, the belief,

this bloodline comes from the Paektu bloodline.

♪♪

It's an origin story for the ages.

They claim the Kim bloodline emerges from a holy mountain

on the Chinese border, Mount Paektu...

♪♪

...starting with Kim Il-sung, then his son, Kim Jong-il,

and now grandson Kim Jong-un,

all claiming the divine right to leadership.

♪♪

This bloodline is extremely important.

That's how they have the legitimacy to rule,

mandate to rule.

I don't think anybody else from outside of this bloodline

could truly rule North Korea

and have legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

♪♪

Kim Il-sung built a cult of personality

with a propaganda machine that saturated the entire society.

♪♪

♪♪

BAEK: That's the case today as well.

Every piece of information that's produced within North Korea

is controlled by the state.

♪♪

(speaking Korean)

(speaking Korean)

♪♪

Socialist revolution, Kim family, Paektu bloodline,

keep the Korean race pure,

don't use any words

that are not part of a pure Korean language.

♪♪

There's a North Korean calendar system where the Year One,

Juche Year One, starts in 1912,

which is the birth year of Kim Il-sung.

The state's propaganda permeated throughout the society.

♪♪

FIFIELD: In the 1970s when Kim Il-sung started to think about

who was going to take over the system from him,

they actually changed the North Korean constitution

to say that the leadership should be from generation to generation

and really laying the groundwork for Kim Il-sung's son to take over.

But they spent 25 years

preparing Kim Jong-il to succeed his father

but also preparing the North Korean population

and especially the regime leaders for this idea

that the second-generation Kim would be the successor.

(speaking Korean)

(crowd cheering)

We have to recognize that in North Korea

there's only been two successions --

from the founder Kim Il-sung to his son Kim Jong-il in 1994...

♪♪

...and then when Kim Jong-il passed away in 2011,

there was another succession.

Kim Jong-un took power at 28.

♪♪

At such a young age, the line of succession is far less secure

should something happen to him.

The problem is that Kim Jong-un does not have a male heir

that is old enough to assume leadership.

♪♪

An unclear succession plan leaves the Kim family and North Korea

vulnerable to potential instability,

a risk that got the world's attention when Kim was a no-show

to commemorate his grandfather's birth on April 15, 2020.

It's really treated like perhaps we think of it

as Christmas or New Year's.

It's really the biggest holiday of the year.

And for every April 15, Kim Jong-un has gone

and laid a wreath at the mausoleum

where his grandfather lies in state.

And he didn't do that this year.

♪♪

His absence, compounded by the fact

that he was not seen in public for another two weeks,

ignited a firestorm of press.

TERRY: There was this one North Korea-related news website

in South Korea that reported that Kim was missing --

not necessarily he's dead,

but something was wrong with his health.

And then I think the next thing we saw was Jim Sciutto of CNN

citing a source in the U.S., in the U.S. government.

U.S. official with direct knowledge tells me,

that the U.S. is now monitoring intelligence

that the health of the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in grave danger.

He had a surgery, that the aftermath of that surgery

there were complications, and his health is now in grave danger.

When it comes to the health of the leader of North Korea,

it is a very small circle of people who would be in the know

and be able to reveal that information.

♪♪

FIFIELD: He was either fine, recuperating, or dead.

And I think the reason that these rumors gained traction

was because it seemed believable that he would have health problems.

When you look at him, he is 36 years old.

He is clearly in very bad shape for such a young man.

South Korean doctors who have analyzed his appearance

and his breathing and things have said

that he appears to have a body mass index of about 45,

which would make him morbidly obese.

♪♪

Kim Jong-un finally did appear at a photo op on May 1st,

putting the rumors to rest.

♪♪

But the seeds of doubt remained.

Who would carry on the family line and be the next leader?

♪♪

♪♪

With a regime that controls nearly every aspect

of civilian, government, and military life

with precision and force,

it became apparent that there was no succession plan.

♪♪

So that would open up just all kinds of possibilities.

What if there is elite in-fighting or struggle

or factional struggle?

So I think it does -- you know, the succession question

leads to potential instability, regime instability in North Korea.

♪♪

The Kim family tree, or the Paektu bloodline,

is fraught with complications.

There are four generations, with multiple contenders,

each one eligible to ascend the throne.

So there's a story that before Kim Jong-il passed away,

he was talking to a Russian diplomat

and he pointed out that two of his children

seemed to have the knack and interest for political affairs

and it was Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong, the sister.

♪♪

She has all the incentive to try to prove that she is a strong leader

as a young -- younger sister of the leader,

but also as a woman.

♪♪

(crowd cheering)

FIFIELD: Kim Jong-un has supreme confidence in his sister, Kim Yo-jong.

She is the person he trusts most of all

because she has that same interest in this system

continuing for decades to come.

♪♪

Early on, Kim Yo-jong was appointed

an alternate member of the Politburo,

only the second woman to receive that title.

The first, her aunt, Kim Kyong-hui.

♪♪

AUM: Kim Yo-jong was also assuming greater positions

in a variety of agencies

within the North Korean government, particularly the most important one,

so the Propaganda and Agitation Department

that builds up the cult and narrative around Kim Jong-il

but also now Kim Jong-un.

And even now she has taken the leadership

of all inter-Korean governmental affairs.

♪♪

So when the North Korean delegation went to Seoul

for the PyeongChang Olympics in 2018,

it was clear that she was, in effect, the head of the delegation

and is now leading all inter-Korean relations.

♪♪

The 2018 Olympics was like a coming-out party for the young sister.

TERRY: The South Korean public and media went mad.

This was the first time really seeing her

and someone from the regime.

They were scrutinizing her looks,

they liked the way she held up her chin.

They thought she looked somewhat like a royalty,

a little bit proud.

They liked how she was wearing a simple ponytail, to her makeup.

Everything about her was scrutinized in South Korea,

and she was quite popular.

They thought she had the right image.

So she played a very important role

in softening up the image for her country,

for her brother, for herself.

♪♪

LEE: It was an interesting opportunity for us to see what she was like.

Until then, to be honest, I had seen her --

she really was on the periphery, darting around behind the scenes.

♪♪

And so it was interesting to see her step into that role

and play more of a diplomatic role as envoy

on behalf of her brother.

♪♪

Kim Yo-jong was seen by her brother's side during his summits

with South Korean President Moon Jae-in

and with President Trump in Singapore and Hanoi.

The truly amazing thing about the brief period of diplomacy

that we saw in 2018 was the willingness of both Kim Yo-jong

and Kim Jong-un to be portrayed live

and to step out of their comfortable protected cocoon

and to step into the rest of the world,

the outside world where anything could happen.

So this is a very clear departure from his father,

from their father, who was notoriously shy

of any kind of public appearance that wasn't staged.

♪♪

Instead they're taking a page

from their grandfather Kim Il-sung's playbook,

carefully controlling the message.

♪♪

Following the Korean War,

he established state-sponsored messaging

designed to secure his own power through a campaign of fear.

♪♪

The propagandist script was a simple lie --

"Imperialist Americans" invaded once and will do it again,

and only he can protect the country.

♪♪

North Korea has very strong concerns about a hostile United States.

For example, they know that President Eisenhower

was contemplating the use of atomic weapons in North Korea

if China and North Korea were to reinvade after the armistice.

North Korea was also very devastated

by the 600,000 tons of bombs

that the U.S. dropped in the North Korea during the Korean War

that basically left no building standing

and turned North Korea into a desert.

So from that experience,

I think that really got into North Korea's psyche,

and that's probably one of the central premises

of how they think about their security going forward.

♪♪

Decades of fear has fueled the development

of the fourth-largest military in the world,

including a nuclear arsenal

and ICBMs capable of reaching the continental United States.

♪♪

♪♪

And at the helm of it all is the Kim family dynasty.

♪♪

(crowd cheering)

♪♪

By 1980, Kim Jong-il was being groomed as successor.

As head of propaganda, he used the office to write himself

into the origin story alongside his father.

♪♪

FIFIELD: The propaganda came to say that Kim Jong-il,

who was actually born in a logging camp

in the Siberian part of the Soviet Union,

they said that he was born on Mount Paektu in a wooden hut

and a bright star shone in the sky that night,

which would be very familiar to anybody

who had been raised in the Christian tradition,

which Kim Il-sung actually had been.

Upon the sudden death of the founding Kim in 1994,

while the country mourned,

Kim Jong-il assumed power without missing a beat.

He ruled with the same iron fist.

While the people suffered and starved,

he carried on the propaganda myth of the strongman for all the world.

♪♪

Then, over a decade into his reign,

he mysteriously disappears from public view.

♪♪

♪♪

LEE: On September 9, 2008,

we were fully expecting Kim Jong-il to appear

and wave to the crowds at the 60th anniversary

of the founding of North Korea, major milestone anniversary.

So in Korean culture, we call any 60th birthday the Hwangap,

so it's a big deal.

♪♪

We fully expected him to be there waving

from the viewing platform.

And I still remember, I was watching a feed of North Korean state TV,

live feed, and the camera panned to the viewing platform,

and he wasn't there.

♪♪

He had suffered a stroke, was perhaps in a coma,

and we wouldn't know for weeks.

And so that goes to show how hard it is

to get any information about North Korea.

♪♪

The whole regime realized they needed to turbocharge the succession plan.

So from then on, we saw Kim Jong-un,

the third son of Kim Jong-il,

being rolled out as the natural heir apparent to this dynasty.

♪♪

And the way they did this

was really by emphasizing the bloodline.

So they started really hammering this line that Kim Jong-un

had this Paektu blood flowing through his veins

and that he was uniquely qualified

to be able to lead the North Korean regime.

♪♪

And so this is how Kim Jong-un today claims legitimacy to lead.

This is the reason why Kim Jong-un ride those white horses on Mount Paektu.

He wants to remind everybody that he has this claim

that very, very few other people do.

♪♪

♪♪

(crowd screaming and crying)

The propaganda paid off.

At the young age of 28,

Kim Jong-un became the next leader of North Korea after his father died.

♪♪

But the fact remained --

He had very little experience, and that made him vulnerable.

♪♪

In a military dictatorship,

the person who controls the money and the weapons is the leader.

♪♪

Military credibility is considered essential for that role.

♪♪

TERRY: Kim Jong-un himself, who had no military experience,

they had to sort of manufacture things

to give him that kind of military experience.

So in 2010, when the North Koreans sank a South Korean corvette, Cheonan,

killing 46 South Korean sailors,

that was supposedly done under Kim Jong-un's name,

that was under his direction,

to give him sort of credibility with the elites and the public.

♪♪

To add to his legitimacy, an aunt, Kim Kyong-hui,

and her husband, Jang Song-thaek,

acted as unofficial regents to the young Kim.

Jang brought in billions to the regime

by setting up markets abroad, mostly in China.

The aunt was an influential

and trusted advisor behind the scenes.

Kim Jong-un's father, Kim Jong-il, relied on his sister

as a support network, as someone who's loyal to Kim Jong-il.

There's not many people that you can trust in North Korea

if you're the leader of North Korea.

So family members are very important and Kim Kyong-hui,

Kim Jong-il's sister,

was an important person that Kim Jong-il trusted,

that he sought advice from,

that -- someone who played a supportive role for Kim Jong-il.

♪♪

FIFIELD: There was a very strong precedent for a sister as a supporter.

And in fact we saw way back, the aunt and the sister,

so Kim Kyong-hui and Kim Yo-jong, were out riding horses together

It looked the aunt was training the sister

as much as she was training Kim Jong-un to take over this role.

♪♪

TERRY: Kim Yo-jong is a confidante,

the one person that Kim Jong-un absolutely trusts in North Korea.

As much confidence Kim Jong-un seemingly has in his sister,

there's one big thing keeping her from becoming the next leader

if her brother dies unexpectedly.

♪♪

FIFIELD: North Korea is an extremely patriarchal system.

This regime has always been run by men, and particularly old men,

so it's really impossible to think that a young woman could take over,

that Kim Yo-jong could be the next successor of North Korea.

But having said that, it's also impossible to think

that she wouldn't take over

because there just really is nobody else in the family

who has any kind of public profile,

any kind of prominent role in the regime,

and who would be able to step into that top leadership role

in the way that she could.

♪♪

TERRY: I truly believe this Paektu bloodline, which is so important,

trumps this patriarchal society.

So I understand this patriarchy is important,

it's a male-dominated society, and there's no doubt about that.

But what's more important to rule?

What do you need to have to rule North Korea?

You need the bloodline.

♪♪

♪♪

In the spring of 2020,

Kim Jong-un made a point of showing the world

that he was alive and well

after his brief disappearance from the public eye.

Still the world speculated -- Who could be the next successor?

♪♪

And then his sister made an unprecedented show of force.

A statement from Kim Yo Jong, First Vice Department Director

of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.

♪♪

She threatened to end the 2018 inter-Korean treaty

if the South did not stop activist defectors

sending anti-regime messages into the North.

(speaking Korean)

(applause)

Kim Yo-jong said some very harsh

and disparaging things about the Moon administration.

"...it is no longer possible to discuss North-South relations with

such a servile, submissive partner who is steeped deeply in flunkeyism

and now even dashes towards disgrace and self ruin."

AUM: And then also did things like blowing up

the inter-Korean liaison office...

...cutting off the communication channels.

It's also very telling that she basically said

that she is giving the North Korean military permission

to come up with next steps for,

you know, being aggressive against South Korea.

They deliberated a phased anti-enemy plan

to make sure those traitors and human scum pay for their crimes...

AUM: So I think that was very important

because publicly she is showing that she has the power

to instruct the North Korean military to devise and implement next steps.

They have connived with human scum in actions against our republic,

driving inter-Korean relations to a catastrophic end point.

♪♪

That is a part of Kim Yo-jong being groomed to exert control

over the North Korean military

if there were a problem with Kim Jong-un.

♪♪

The Moon administration acquiesced

and placed restrictions on activist defectors.

TERRY: Nothing that's coming out of North Korea is sort of haphazard.

They have thought this through.

I think that Kim Jong-un has in his mind

grooming his sister, and this is sort of the start.

She needs to show that's she'S tough, she has what it takes,

that she can be tough against the South Koreans,

she can be tough against Americans.

So I think more provocations will come out of North Korea

and it will have Kim Yo-jong's name on it.

But she is walking a tightrope,

because even trusted family members

can get on the wrong side of the regime.

(cheers and applause)

When Kim Jong-un took power, he saw threats everywhere.

There were hundreds of purges and executions

of anyone Kim saw as a threat,

mostly old-guard loyalists to his father.

♪♪

One year into his reign, he had his own uncle,

Jang Song-thaek, killed for amassing too much power

within the system.

♪♪

FIFIELD: He was taken out --

There were bleachers set up

so that regime officials could watch as he was shot

I believe with an antiaircraft gun in front of this audience

to send a powerful deterrent message

to anybody who might think about, you know, rivaling Kim Jong-un

for the leadership.

In Kim Jong-un's mind, his older half-brother, Kim Jong-nam,

posed the next threat.

Kim Jong-nam showed absolutely no desire whatsoever

to take on that leadership role.

He had been critical of the system.

He had been living outside of North Korea for about 15 years.

In terms of Kim Jong-un's paranoia

and his desire to kind of shore up the system

and make sure that his core family and him in particular

was fully in charge,

this is the reason why he had his own half-brother,

you know, very brutally assassinated in full public view

of the security cameras in Kuala Lumpur Airport.

♪♪

LEE: Both of these were very strong messages

to members of the Kim family

and members of the elite that you either play along

and you do what Kim Jong-un says,

or he will make sure that you pay the price.

And so those were both incredibly chilling messages

that would not have been lost among the elites

as well as members of the Kim family.

♪♪

After half-brother Kim Jong-nam was murdered,

his son, Kim Han-sol, went into hiding.

♪♪

Despite spending most of his life abroad,

he still feared for his life.

TERRY: I'm sure Kim Jong-un is looking for Kim Han-sol

to get him rid of him and a potential --

any potential future successor.

Kim Han-sol is a lot older than his own children right now

so if something were to happen to Kim Jong-un

and if, let's say, China and the U.S. backed someone like Kim Han-sol,

that could potentially happen.

So I think if I'm Kim Jong-un,

he would be, you know -- Kim Han-sol is in danger.

My father has been killed a few days ago.

I'm currently with my mother and my sister.

We hope -- We hope this gets better soon.

It's a real-life Game of Thrones.

♪♪

Next up on the family tree,

the globe-trotting, concertgoing older brother, Kim Jong-chul.

He's not a credible person from the elite's perspective,

because you want a strong leader and he was already considered --

Kim Jong-chul was already considered

to be not a strong leader, who's uninterested in politics,

who's a music fan, who's too effeminate.

♪♪

With no other male siblings in the running,

another potential challenger within the bloodline is the uncle,

Kim Pyong-il.

♪♪

LEE: Kim Pyong-il was a half-brother of Kim Jong-il.

They had different mothers.

So Kim Pyong-il presents a very interesting case.

He is a member of the Kim family who bears the Paektu lineage.

His father is Kim Il-sung, He looks similar to Kim Il-sung.

♪♪

And I do think Kim Jong-il

saw him as a competitor for the throne.

♪♪

Kim Jong-il, however, he won the battle for leadership

and sent Kim Pyong-il overseas as a diplomat.

And Kim Pyong-il spent decades overseas.

♪♪

In a surprise turn,

Kim Jong-un recently recalled his uncle to Pyongyang.

No one is sure why.

TERRY: Who knows why Kim Jong-un brought his uncle back to North Korea.

I think the real reason is to make sure that Kim Pyong-il does not defect

and that Kim Jong-un can keep a tab on him.

(crowd cheering)

A clear line to the next leader remains uncertain.

Such a void could lead to chaos.

♪♪

♪♪

In North Korea, daily life is influenced

by over 70 years of Kim family rule.

A new leader outside the Paektu bloodline is unthinkable.

But when you look at the family tree, there's no clear choice.

Kim Yo-jong is young and female.

The brother, Kim Jong-chul, is perceived as weak.

The nephew, Kim Han-sol, is unknown within North Korea.

The uncle, Kim Pyong-il, lacks the relationships

within the system to gather power.

♪♪

It's court intrigue. It's modern-day court intrigue.

One prominent figure in the North Korean court

not found on the family tree is Choe Ryong-hae.

He wields great power and influence in the regime

and should not be overlooked as a potential successor.

AUM: He spent some time in the military,

but really he's been a bureaucrat for the last 30, 40 years.

He's the first vice chair of the State Affairs Commission

and widely recognized as the number two in command in North Korea.

♪♪

LEE: Choe Ryong-hae is political royalty in North Korea.

He comes from the perfect lineage for a North Korean official.

His father, Choe Hyon,

fought alongside Kim Il-sung fighting the Japanese,

and so he has what they call that partisan street cred.

And so he has that

political heritage and ancestry.

He's a trusted friend of the Kim family.

But he's still an outsider.

♪♪

TERRY: Choe Ryong-hae does not have Paektu bloodline,

and that's the valuable thing that Choe Ryong-hae is missing.

That said, I think if anybody can challenge Kim Yo-jong

becoming the next successor will be Choe Ryong-hae

because he is the second most powerful man in North Korea.

There are rumors that his second son was married to Kim Yo-jong,

so there could be some interesting connections there

in terms of a future power dynamic.

♪♪

A smart play for the North Koreans is for Kim Yo-jong to take over,

she has the right bloodline,

and closely aided by someone like Choe Ryong-hae

who has experience, who has a patronage network,

who comes from the right family.

And if they could work together,

that would be a smart thing for the North Koreans.

That would lead to stable transition.

♪♪

Any uncertainty during a time of transition

could potentially cause a chaotic period

that would worry South Korea

and not be tolerated by China or the U.S.

♪♪

AUM: The concern for the U.S. government is instability.

If you were to have a situation where Kim Jong-un

passes away suddenly and there's no clear successor,

then that presents problems.

China's also concerned about instability

along its borders with North Korea as well.

Their approach to North Korea is that they want no war,

no instability, and no nuclear weapons, but in that order.

And so I think they would also be concerned

about a crisis of succession,

the inability of the North Korean government

to control its population, warring factions,

loose nuclear weapons, a fallout from poor nuclear security,

a famine in the country.

Any of these scenarios could cause a problem along China's border,

and they would want to approach that very quickly.

♪♪

And they have good reason for concern.

The North Korean people have starved before.

In the 1990s, a financial crisis struck, massive flooding,

and the loss of their main benefactor, the Soviet Union,

caused the central distribution system to collapse.

♪♪

They could no longer provide for the people.

It is believed that over a half a million lives were lost

in the famine that followed.

♪♪

The North Korean people realized that they couldn't rely

on the North Korean government anymore,

they had to basically rely on themselves.

And so they started foraging for food,

they started to sell anything that they could get their hands on,

make stuff and sell them in the new markets

that were popping up across the country.

And basically this resulted in survival entrepreneurialism

on a mass scale.

♪♪

BAEK: Fast-forward to now in 2020, there are hundreds of massive markets.

Now they are regulating these markets,

they are taxing these markets, and they are trying to control.

But they're not getting rid of them because there's no way,

there's no alternative to provide for all of its citizens.

♪♪

By allowing these markets to exist,

the people rely less on the Kim family.

But could this shift in power cause regime collapse,

where the people gain control?

♪♪

Every aspect of North Korean life is so tightly controlled,

the outside world is not to be known or seen

by the vast majority of citizens.

But that is slowly changing.

(gas whooshing)

♪♪

Over the last 10, 20 years,

North Korean people have been getting access to foreign media,

including South Korean television programs,

Chinese films, e-books, and so on from the outside world.

Things that are being smuggled in on USB sticks

and micro SD cards.

Things that North Korean government doesn't want them to see.

And once the North Korean people learn things

and know things about the outside world and their own country

that the North Korean leadership doesn't want them to know,

they can't unlearn them.

And you know, curiosity is an idea that can't be killed.

(rooster crows)

♪♪

North Korean people have been able to open things up from the bottom up gradually,

and one of the most important changes there, I think, is in information.

And even though there's so much risk attached to that,

this phenomenon has actually been spreading and growing.

Where are the USBs?

These are the USBs here

Loads of recent films and TV shows saved on there

PARK: It makes them question certain fundamental things

that they've been taught from an early age.

(up-tempo music playing)

What are they doing?

And this is something that is irreversible.

♪♪

LEE: The North Korean people struggle with children

who question things and young people who are not happy.

MAN: Who can tell me what the term "market research" means?

So you have to wonder whether Kim Jong-un

has the kind of loyalty that his grandfather

could safely rely on when he was leader.

♪♪

FIFIELD: Until now, the system has been able to stay intact

using repression, punishing people in very extreme ways

if they commit political crimes like questioning the leadership.

North Korea is the most closed and repressive country in the world,

and 25 million North Korean people

face the most authoritarian government in the world,

and this situation has been going for 70 years now.

♪♪

It's absolutely incredible to think that there are maybe around

100,000 North Korean people in political prison camps

which are reminiscent of the Soviet gulags

or some people would say even the Nazi concentration camps.

♪♪

This is how the North Korean system has survived.

So far they have been able to keep it under control,

but every time you take a step away from this foundation myth,

it becomes that little bit harder to perpetuate it.

♪♪

BAEK: Eventually we could see history repeat itself in North Korea

as it did in other parts of the world, which is,

groups of people who are like-minded

in a shared pursuit of achieving a better society,

happier society, a freer society for its people.

(man speaking Korean over loudspeaker)

There is every day disorganized resistance.

North Korean people resist authority and the government

in their own way in their daily life.

(people speaking Korean)

You're not going to be quiet?

You're saying you don't deserve this? Watch your mouth!

And as that builds, it maybe creates the seeds

for civil society space,

more cooperation between people,

and just more spread of subversive ideas

and desires for the future.

(sirens wailing)

You know, human history teaches us to be humble

about what we think we can know about how things will play out,

especially in terms of political developments.

These things inherently surprise us.

Countries are stable until they're unstable.

♪♪

BAEK: I think we're not going to see anything similar to a Pyongyang Spring

or a Pyongyang Square anytime soon.

And this is mainly because the deterrent measures,

the punishment mechanisms, is just so effective.

North Korea is -- as a dictatorship, they get a A-plus.

They are an incredibly effective dictatorship.

No one is immune from being used by the state,

being exploited by the state, or being assassinated by the state.

♪♪

FIFIELD: I've asked people who've escaped from North Korea

about why there is no kind of people's uprising,

why there is no revolution in North Korea.

They all point to this --

They say that if you disagree with the system

you try to escape from it,

you don't try to change it from within.

For those who opt to escape,

the chosen path is often through China,

guided by an underground network,

constantly fearing detection, pushing themselves to exhaustion.

It's an arduous path to freedom.

♪♪

BAEK: I think it's essential to try to understand

and listen to as many North Korean defectors as possible,

'cause the regime and all the heinous, brutal ways

that the regime maintains to keep the society as it is, is one thing.

But at the complete other end of the spectrum

of trying to understand North Korea as a whole

are the people who live it

and the people who overcome such repressive life.

♪♪

So where is the tipping point in North Korea?

What is the moment where the people of North Korea say, you know,

"We've had enough with living in this system of lies.

We know the outside world is richer and freer

and we want some of that for ourselves"?

♪♪

For the Kim family, maintaining control is a delicate dance.

♪♪

Their dynasty has ruled for over 70 years...

♪♪

...and the key to its ongoing survival is succession.

♪♪

I think we have many years before we'll see that issue come to a head.

Perhaps it will come sooner than Kim Jong-un would like.

♪♪

But he is banking on the idea of it being decades

before he hands power to the next generation.

Captioned by VITAC