Original subtitles

for meeting with the man of his dreams,

Mr James, a dapper Scandinavian oil billionaire.

So how did you set it up?

Mm-hm.

What kind of investments into North Korea

would President Alejandro Cao de Benos have on offer for Mr James?

Go.

KNOCK ON DOOR

Sorry, just to interrupt,

but what sort of cover story had you developed for James?

I mean, Alejandro presumably would have done some checking

on the background of James.

So he didn't need to know the name of this oil billionaire?

Did he discuss what types of business he would be looking for?

Meeting with President Alejandro Cao de Benos in Oslo

gave a whole new perspective on the Korean Friendship Association

because, officially, the KFA is a peaceful organisation

which works to promote North Korean culture, history and values

through its members in more than 30 different countries...

..including the official delegate for all of Scandinavia,

the mole.

Was the KFA really being used

as a front for dealing with weapons and drugs from North Korea,

with Alejandro as the spider in the web?

Or was Alejandro Cao de Benos playing us in order to get to

the deep pockets of Mr James?

And who was Alejandro really?

Simply a buffoonish braggart acting as a useful idiot

for the regime in Pyongyang?

Or was he a highly connected and sophisticated

international criminal?

At last, the mole had found his real mission and true purpose -

follow the lead of Alejandro Cao de Benos

and see where it takes us.

So, what happened after this meeting?

For the first time ever, the brave soldiers of the KFA

would have their annual meeting without their president -

a perfect chance for the mole to rise in the ranks.

PHONE RINGS

Next, the mole and Mr James went to Madrid in Spain

to meet with Alejandro Cao de Benos.

Through me, Mr James had an order ready for North Korean weapons

as well as methamphetamine.

Would the president of the Korean Friendship Association

be open for business,

now that he was being investigated for arms trafficking?

So, Alejandro took James entirely on trust, on your recommendation?

And what was that story?

So, at this meeting in Madrid... Yeah.

..does James give any ideas about why he wants, why he's interested

in buying this sort of materiel?

At this point, he's stuck in Spain... Yeah. ..for legal reasons.

But he can organise your trip with James to North Korea.

Going on a secret mission to North Korea

calls for careful planning,

so I had my first in-person meeting with the mole and Mr James together,

making sure that Mr James especially

knew the most important rules of the game.

Hi, Jim. I'm Annie. Pleasure to meet you.

Lovely to meet you, too.

If we can keep the answers as brief as possible

and as precise as possible, that would be appreciated. Sure.

So, what was your perception of the possible risk at this point?

SHE LAUGHS Erm...

I was also worried for the mole.

Mr James had been around the block.

He could fend for himself.

But what about the mole?

He was just a retired chef.

So, I took him to see a teacher who could give him a crash course

in what is known as "tradecraft" among spies.

In short, I took him to see Max,

a former CIA agent.

If he makes a mistake, he could find himself...

..tied up in the centre of town with a blowtorch...

..as an example for nobody else to do that.

So...

But why trust a former CIA agent

with the identity and secrets of the mole? It's a good question.

Max had been fired from the Central Intelligence Agency

and was not in good standing with the company any more,

which made it safer to trust him.

I'm going to kill you.

Why?

OK, yep.

Anyway, I was in need of someone who could teach the mole the ropes

before he returned to North Korea.

If somebody's holding a gun on you,

you're not going to expect them to...take it away.

All right? All you're looking for is a split-second edge.

And besides, as the saying goes,

who can you trust these days?

Observation skills.

What I say, what's common is common... Yeah.

..and what ain't, ain't.

That means if it's common, that's usual for the area,

OK, that's normal.

If something stands out, it stands out for a reason,

so you've got to be aware of your surroundings.

You might as well give them your phone and say,

"Here, look at it," because that's how easy it is nowadays.

You have to assume they can read all of your messages.

So, when they look at your emails accounts,

they can go way, way, way, way, way back.

They're going to feel like you betrayed them.

You didn't really believe in...socialism or communism.

You didn't really believe in North Korea as a place to go.

You didn't really believe it.

That was all just... You were a mole.

Be careful that they don't set a trap for you.

So, like, when they walk out of the room and leave papers,

don't touch them, don't go near them.

Then, they can say, "Oh, we knew he was going to go through these."

You don't care about those. Don't even think about messing with that.

I tell you what, you are a hero of mine doing this.

It's very dangerous. So, this is the real deal. Yeah.

Safe journey. Thank you, Max.

Godspeed. Thank you. Bye. Bye now.

Right in the middle of these anxieties,

an American university student was arrested in North Korea.

NEWSREADER: ..was sentenced to hard labour

for stealing a propaganda poster. The Warmbier...

His crime was simply stealing a poster

from his hotel in Pyongyang.

NEWSREADER: Another American front and centre

in Pyongyang's propaganda parade.

Otto Frederick Warmbier,

a University of Virginia business major,

making a dramatic, emotional confession.

Warmbier's parents issued a statement today...

VOICE FADES OUT

So, can you tell me what happened when you got there?

MUSIC PLAYS

POP MUSIC PLAYS

VIOLIN MUSIC PLAYS

OPERA SINGING

OUT-OF-TUNE SINGING

WOMEN SING

APPLAUSE

So, how did the deal progress once you were there?

GUNSHOT

GUNSHOT

So how long did this, erm - shall we call it a courtship period - last?

Two days. OK.

LOW CHATTER

INDICATOR CLICKING

Under a basement... Yeah. in a rotting house. Yeah.

Were you frightened?

MEN SPEAKING KOREAN

Is this when this photograph was taken?

So, can you tell me who is who?

Mm-hm.

Mm-hm.

OK.

HE LAUGHS

Mm-hm.

Like a sort of menu? Yeah. OK.

And what sort of weapons are we talking about?

So this is all on offer?

Yeah, this is what we were just handed over the table.

Wow! So we've got Scud missiles? Yeah.

So, you can get five Scud missiles for $14 million.

Missile launchers. Yeah.

So we're going up to Scud-E missiles now. Yeah. Good God.

$25 million.

Yeah.

And that's a high explosive warhead, and that's thermobaric. Oof!

I mean, that's as close as you can get to a nuke... Yeah.

..without it being a nuke.

What's this?

The arms factory? Yeah. Yeah, OK.

All signed and sealed, as well. Yes.

And what was Ulrich doing during this meeting

when you were signing contracts?

He was allowed to film?!

CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKS

And where is that?

At this point, you're in a secret underground lair in North Korea,

facilitating the signature of a weapons contract.

What is going through your head at this stage?

APPLAUSE

And Alejandro is aware of all of this?

MUSIC PLAYS

APPLAUSE

And did the Koreans have any preferences

when it came to countries, or suggestions?

So, to sum it up,

you are now a North Korean weapons dealer and broker?

Yes.

NEWSREADER: Good evening, and it's great to have you with us here

on a Monday night. And we begin with late developments today,

the worsening horror for a mother and father from Ohio.

Their son, who was just returned from North Korea

with severe brain damage, has now died.

Since the moment their son was sentenced

to hard labour for stealing a propaganda poster,

the Warmbiers were fighting until he was released.

The look in his eyes, which I didn't know he was blind at the time,

was absolute horror - horror like he'd seen the devil.

And he had. He was with the devil.

Back in Copenhagen, I was shocked to discover what my two proxies

had accomplished in Pyongyang.

They had brought real, raw intelligence with them.

As the scholar Andrea Berger writes in her study Target Markets,

very little is known about pricing on North Korean weapons systems,

but here was a fully detailed menu in hard copy.

Mr James being appointed as a North Korean arms broker

seemed like the figment of a sick mind,

but here also was a signed and sealed contract,

drawn up in English by the North Koreans.

Before Mr James came along, only a few non-Koreans

had been known to broker weapons for the regime in Pyongyang.

Back in 2011, the British arms dealer Michael Ranger was arrested

for brokering a deal between Azerbaijan and North Korea,

but he was a highly experienced arms dealer in a dangerous game

Nevertheless, Mr James and the mole had scored a jackpot.

RUSTLING

ZIPPER ZIPS

To prepare the mole for his next mission, Alejandro would now provide

guidance on how to operate as a businessman in Uganda.

OK.

OK.

Oh, OK.

for experts, let alone amateurs.

Nevertheless, Mr James and the mole had scored a jackpot.

RUSTLING

ZIPPER ZIPS

To prepare the mole for his next mission, Alejandro would now provide

guidance on how to operate as a businessman in Uganda.

OK.

OK.

Oh, OK.

You were mic'd up?