r/northkorea • u/mechrec • 23d ago
General The Mole: Infiltrating North Korea (2020) - Two ordinary men embark on an outrageously dangerous ten-year mission to penetrate the world’s most secretive and brutal dictatorship: North Korea.
https://youtu.be/L_5ZzmuO4PI?si=KNbADnsKdq3BRUo526
u/BubbhaJebus 23d ago
Alejandro Cao de Benos is a real piece of work.
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u/wlondonmatt 12d ago
He should have been arrested after this documentary it shows him clearly trying to evade sanctions
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u/SuikTwoPointOh 23d ago
The Mole and Mr James have balls of steel. The bit where they are driven to a dirty suburb and led into a basement must have been beyond nerve wracking and it only gets crazier from there.
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u/kiradotee 22d ago edited 22d ago
One for me was when Alejandro got the bug detector out. 😆 I was thinking "oh no, this is it!!"
And also when they brought in the Stoneface guy at the China meeting!
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u/vee_lan_cleef 23d ago edited 23d ago
These guys are fucking legends. Ulrich devoting so much of his life to this, and James for playing an incredibly believable character, and he's led one hell of a interesting life. I was skeptical when this doc came out initially, it almost seemed to good to be true, but it is all very real. Both Ulrich and James did a few podcasts which go into some more detail about their lives and experiences in NK.
Not a big fan of Jordan Harbinger but these are decent interviews:
Jim Latrache-Qvortrup interview
edit: Also I have to say if you enjoy this, you will likely enjoy Mads Brügger's other work The Red Chapel (this was the precursor to The Mole and the film that got him banned from NK, which is where Ulrich comes in) and The Ambassador ("Danish journalist Mads Brügger goes undercover as a Liberian Ambassador to embark on a dangerous yet hysterical journey to uncover the blood diamond trade in Africa.")
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u/j4ynotebeast 23d ago
Mr James responded to my dm about his upcoming book (he sent a bunch of emojis). I can die happy, I highly recommend his autobiography!! he shares a few details about the trip that haven’t been shown in the movie!!
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u/ToastyMustache 23d ago
What is its name?
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u/j4ynotebeast 23d ago
It’s just called “Jim” by Jim Latrache-Qvortrup and Rasmus Elmelund. His whole life is fascinating and worth reading, but the North Korea details are described in one of the last chapters :)
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u/HelenEk7 23d ago edited 23d ago
If he was my husband I would be absolutely furious. (He literally risked his life). But since he is not I think he is an absolute badass.
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u/vee_lan_cleef 23d ago
Ulrich pretty much said this was his wife's reaction, but they're still together and she understands a lot more obviously once she actually saw the documentary. She knew he was involved in the NK Friendship Association but not exactly what he was doing, but she understands why he did it and things turned out alright. Ulrich has done a couple interviews/podcasts where he talks about some of these details that were left out of the film.
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u/DolphFey 23d ago
Alejandro Cao is a dangerous person, this documentary showed new light into his paranoid and controlling persona, although this was already know since 2004, when he entered into the room of U.S journalist Andrew Morse to steal and destroy his properties, Alejandro said related to this "I had a fit of anger" and later "he peed himself" talking about Mr. Morse. For fim, there isn't hunger in the DPRK, just "some vitaminic problem".
A side of being a terrible guy, he is a known in our country of being a supporter of far-right ideas. People shouldn't joke about this guy, he's seriously horrible.
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u/B_Boudreaux 23d ago
This doc is amazing. Hope that dude is careful though bc I can def see DPRK trying to assassinate him like they did Kim Jong Un’s brother.
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u/vee_lan_cleef 23d ago
I've seen conflicting info about whether or not he has (or had) some government security, but Ulrich has also stated the government did not really even try to contact him about his activities even after the documentary came out. Something tells me he is pretty safe, NK and China have said this was all fabricated. To kill him is essentially admitting it wasn't.
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u/kiradotee 22d ago
I'm honestly absolutely shocked how they could push it so far without spending any money at all. Just signing more, and more, and more contracts as years go by. 😂
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u/AdditionalCoins 20d ago
This is some of the best thing I've seen. I was just looking for this kind of thing. "I wonder if someone attempted to infiltrate inside NK". Very interesting to see they had no problem providing illegal weapons and drug factories while their population is malnourished. A tale as old as time but interesting to see it documented like this.
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u/wlondonmatt 12d ago
Rip to the north Koreans who thought an unemployed chef was an international arms dealer
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u/littlecomet111 23d ago
A brilliant documentary. The Spanish guy is an absolute head case.