Speaker 1: In a twelve year old Asian boy with a bowl haircut,
Speaker 1: his body hugged by a jumpsuit, walked into a boarding
Speaker 1: school and burned Switzerland. He was, by all appearances, just
Speaker 1: another spoiled, rich kid. He loved action movies and airplanes.
Speaker 1: He was obsessed with basketball, especially the Chicago Bulls. Each
Speaker 1: new academic year, he was the envy of the class,
Speaker 1: strutting around the schoolyard and a pair of freshly unboxed
Speaker 1: air Jordan's. According to classmates, the boy answered to the
Speaker 1: name Pagun. But what they didn't know is that Swiss
Speaker 1: authorities had a different name on file. According to the
Speaker 1: kids Brazilian passport, his real name was Joseph Plague. But
Speaker 1: here's the secret. Neither name was real. Joseph Poague and Pagun,
Speaker 1: we're just aliases. The twelve year old's real name was
Speaker 1: Kim Chang Un, and for the next four years, the
Speaker 1: Michael Jordan's loving son of a tyrant would use these
Speaker 1: phony personas to conceal his identity and gallivant around Europe undetected,
Speaker 1: just like his older brother. But what's most fascinating about
Speaker 1: Kim Dongan's fake Brazilian passport isn't the alias or the
Speaker 1: country of origin. What's most intriguing is that the document
Speaker 1: lists his father as a man called Ricardo Poague, who
Speaker 1: was he Well, Ricardo Plague was a real person, at
Speaker 1: least the fake name of a real person, but we
Speaker 1: know that he was a top level North Korean official,
Speaker 1: one who traveled to Europe regularly, often staying in luxury hotels.
Speaker 1: According to Anna Fifield's book, Ricardo was quote charged with
Speaker 1: buying buildings for the North Korean ruling class. And if
Speaker 1: that's any indication, we have a good idea about the
Speaker 1: man's real identity. We don't know for sure her Ricardo
Speaker 1: Plague was um, but there has been suggested that Jang
Speaker 1: Song Tech was that person. Chang's Hung Tech, the uncle
Speaker 1: of both Kim jongan and Kim Chong nam, widely considered
Speaker 1: one of the most influential people in the regime. Juan
Speaker 1: Song Tech's role in the regime was to go out
Speaker 1: into the world. He was very mercurial, gregarious character h
Speaker 1: and he was in charge of a lot of economic
Speaker 1: liaison with the outside world, mostly with China, but he
Speaker 1: also traveled quite a lot in Europe. In the nineties,
Speaker 1: Chang Song tech was one of the most powerful men
Speaker 1: in North Korea. Decades earlier, he had married Kim Jong
Speaker 1: il sister and became a close confidante to the dear leader.
Speaker 1: He was always on the move, traveling the world undercover,
Speaker 1: securing deals to help fund the regime. He was so
Speaker 1: powerful that, as you may remember, some pundits called him
Speaker 1: quote the Kim jong Il who goes abroad. It's hard
Speaker 1: to overstate how close Kim Jong Il and Chang Song
Speaker 1: pech were. He acted as a father figure to the
Speaker 1: Supreme Leader's children, change even personally held auditions for the
Speaker 1: women in Kim Jong Il's harem. And during the two
Speaker 1: thousand's some North Korea watchers speculated that Chang could be
Speaker 1: chosen to lead the nation. Of course, that honor would
Speaker 1: go to Tongues or should we say Ricardo Poague's fake
Speaker 1: Brazilian son. But that decision didn't nooter Uncle Chan's power,
Speaker 1: because when Kim Jong n took over in twenty eleven,
Speaker 1: it was Chang who helped shepherd his nephew through North
Speaker 1: Korea's bureaucracy. It was Chang who helped him build relationships
Speaker 1: with the Polite Bureau. It was Chang who built apartments
Speaker 1: and resorts to glorify the new ruler, and it was
Speaker 1: Chang who served as Kim Jongan's closest advisor. Chang Song
Speaker 1: tech essentially functioned as Kim Jongan's chief of staff. The
Speaker 1: two were like father and son, like Ricardo and Joseph Plague.
Speaker 1: But Uncle Tong harbored a secret, one that linked him
Speaker 1: to King Chong Nam, and one that would reportedly soon
Speaker 1: have him staring down the barrel of an anti aircraft gun.
Speaker 1: I'm eating lee and in this episode, dirty money, risky reform,
Speaker 1: and failed coups inside the money making schemes that may
Speaker 1: have had several members of the Kim dynasty to gamble
Speaker 1: with their lives. There are also plenty of suggestions that
Speaker 1: he was still in cohots with the regime. North Korean
Speaker 1: diplomat stationed abroad have really behaved like a criminal mob
Speaker 1: and you could see Jong Song text saying, why am
Speaker 1: I going to turn over my life's work to my
Speaker 1: snot nose twentysomething nephew, This is big brother. When the
Speaker 1: Japanese journalist Yoji Komi first reported on Kim Jong Nam's
Speaker 1: criticisms of the regime. The DPRK responded with fury, sending
Speaker 1: the prince into a brief hiding or, as Kim Jong
Speaker 1: Nam told Comey, I just have to be careful. But
Speaker 1: things eventually cooled over. Kim Jong Il was running the country.
Speaker 1: He still loved his son, so the risks of needling
Speaker 1: the regime were relatively low. But things were different when
Speaker 1: Comey published his book. Kim Jong Il was dead and
Speaker 1: Kim Jong Un was now in charge, and nobody knew
Speaker 1: how he'd react to his brother's inflammatory comments. It didn't
Speaker 1: help that Kim Jong nam had suggested that North Korea
Speaker 1: should liberalize its economy and claim that the best hope
Speaker 1: for reform was not his little brother but Uncle Tong.
Speaker 1: Michael Madden explains, probably Jong probably had different ideas as
Speaker 1: to what North Korea's economy should be doing. In a
Speaker 1: North Korean context, he was most likely a reformer. In fact,
Speaker 1: Uncle Chang had a proven track record of nudging the
Speaker 1: country in new directions. Evidence of are some evidence that
Speaker 1: there were certain relaxations of social policies in North Korea
Speaker 1: under Joan Song text leadership of the Internal Security Apparatus,
Speaker 1: A toleration of religious activities, both Christianity and Shamanism. And
Speaker 1: there was a certain degree of clemency and pardon given
Speaker 1: to people who fled illegally into China to seek work
Speaker 1: or to seek economic relief, for to seek food. Uncle
Speaker 1: Chang's influence was very real. A little more than a
Speaker 1: decade earlier, change may have nudged Kim Jong il toward reform.
Speaker 1: The Supreme Leader had adopted a new constitution, one that
Speaker 1: embraced quote prime costs, prices and profits. Profits. Now, that
Speaker 1: wasn't very communist. Neither was a new constitutional article calling
Speaker 1: for quote enterprises with corporations or individuals of foreign countries.
Speaker 1: The foreign country being Uncle Tong's friend China. Jong was
Speaker 1: very much aligned with China, whereby Chinese investment money would
Speaker 1: come into North Korean economic sites. Years later, can even
Speaker 1: pushed to create multiple economic zones along the border, miniature
Speaker 1: capitalist fifdoms that functioned as incubators for innovation. Kim Jongan
Speaker 1: actually embraced these ideas. The country created more than a
Speaker 1: dozen of them. On that here's Jenny Town of the
Speaker 1: Simpsons Center. Kim Jongan has really tried to put himself
Speaker 1: out as trying to usher in an era of economic
Speaker 1: prosperity and not just survival. There was a real emphasis
Speaker 1: on these special economic zones. North Korea was willing to
Speaker 1: do a lot of interesting things um and created you know,
Speaker 1: the legal space for these zones to develop. Kim jong
Speaker 1: Un also allowed the country's private black markets to blossom.
Speaker 1: Since then, this black market economy has grown into a
Speaker 1: legitimate proct this with many towns hosting government approved marketplaces.
Speaker 1: In terms of the actual market activity in the economy itself, um,
Speaker 1: there's been rising economic activity and it's under the kimjong
Speaker 1: on era. Today there are private grocers, private restaurants, private
Speaker 1: travel companies, and even private taxis all competing for customers.
Speaker 1: By at least of North Korea's population was running or
Speaker 1: working for some sort of private enterprise. And experts agree
Speaker 1: the standard of living has increased. There has been a
Speaker 1: real rise in accumulated wealth per person. Then there's been
Speaker 1: some you know, medium size to larger size businesses that
Speaker 1: have flourished in the past few years. What you've also
Speaker 1: seen is a real loosening of control over like the
Speaker 1: state owned enterprises. This of course is not the Chinese
Speaker 1: style reform. Uncle Chang and Kim jong Nam advocated for.
Speaker 1: But it's something It's almost as if the two men
Speaker 1: were given the freedom to whisper into Kim jong UN's ear.
Speaker 1: Perhaps Yoji Komi's book full of Kim jong Nam's proddings
Speaker 1: and the aged wisdom of Uncle Chang actually made an
Speaker 1: impression on the young dictator. That's one interpretation. The other
Speaker 1: simply times are tough in North Korea, but by allowing
Speaker 1: these markets to exist, Kim jong Un has marginally boosted
Speaker 1: the standard of living and boosted his own popularity. The
Speaker 1: decision was ultimately self serving. Besides, there's an economic benefit
Speaker 1: to letting private enterprises operate under the surface. The state
Speaker 1: can devote fewer funds to social institutions and spend more
Speaker 1: on its real priorities like nuclear weapons. And since the
Speaker 1: rise of the private economy, the regime has been pouring
Speaker 1: more resources into money making schemes and lessen to its people.
Speaker 1: And that's where the fates of Kim Jong Nam and
Speaker 1: Uncle Tang Song tech become tangled and messy. Because Kim
Speaker 1: jong Nam's death it might have nothing to do with
Speaker 1: the successorship, It might have nothing to do with dueling
Speaker 1: families or deceitful stepmothers. Their deaths might have everything to
Speaker 1: do with money. There are lots of theories as to
Speaker 1: why Kim jong nam was assassinated. His Peck two blood
Speaker 1: was a threat to Kim Jong NaN's power. He had
Speaker 1: argued for warm and opening up. He publicly criticized and
Speaker 1: embarrassed the regime by speaking to journalists. But there's another theory,
Speaker 1: and to understand it you have to know a little
Speaker 1: about how North Korea makes money. The country has a
Speaker 1: diverse portfolio. Each year, it sends tens of thousands of
Speaker 1: migrant laborers, construction workers, loggers, farmers two countries like Kuwait, Botswana,
Speaker 1: and even Poland. These indentured servants send the majority of
Speaker 1: their paychecks back to the regime. The country also boasts
Speaker 1: a small manufacturing sector. In the seventies and eighties, North
Speaker 1: Korea was one of the biggest makers and exporters of
Speaker 1: pachinko gambling machines in Asia. They sold many of these
Speaker 1: popular systems to the yakuza, But selling gambling games to
Speaker 1: an organized crime syndicate is relatively above board compared to
Speaker 1: their other dirty money dealings. Deep inside the concrete bunkers
Speaker 1: of Kung young. A secret government bureau called Room thirty
Speaker 1: nine manages hundreds of illicit money making schemes, from human
Speaker 1: trafficking to money laundering to rhinoceros horns smuggling. I would
Speaker 1: say the North Korean leaders are very good at weaponizing
Speaker 1: their own weirdness. That again is Dr Sun Un Lee
Speaker 1: of Tufts University. They do these strange things, the state
Speaker 1: sponsoring illegal activities, not only weapons proliferation, but the production
Speaker 1: of fake famous brand cigarettes like Marlborough and other brands.
Speaker 1: The North Korean regime is a king among counterfeiters, cigarettes, handbags, sneakers, watches,
Speaker 1: you name it, they make it. And in the late
Speaker 1: nineties and early two thousands they were the world's leader
Speaker 1: at pumping out convincingly real hundred dollar bills called super
Speaker 1: dollars and matt help them pedal drugs, lots of them.
Speaker 1: They sell drugs. This is the state, not just criminal
Speaker 1: gangs inside North Korea, but the state sponsoring all these
Speaker 1: illicit activities. North Korea ships heroin to places like Australia
Speaker 1: and smuggles counterfeit prescription drugs to Bulgaria. It supplies of
Speaker 1: Japan's math amphetamine with some high quality crystal meth landing
Speaker 1: in the US. One of North Korea's most ingenious money
Speaker 1: making methods, however, revolves around a vast network of diplomats
Speaker 1: and international residents, people like Kim Jong nam and Chang
Speaker 1: Zong Pec. North Korean diplomat stationed abroad have really behaved
Speaker 1: like an official criminal mob under the guise of diplomatic immunity,
Speaker 1: engaging in criminal activities for profit. That's because North Korea's
Speaker 1: diplomats and foreign elites are responsible for earning money for
Speaker 1: the regime, often using diplomatic immunity as a cover. Here
Speaker 1: again is Michael Madden, originally North Korean. Originally North Korea
Speaker 1: did a lot of these transactions through their embassy, but
Speaker 1: the original idea in four was to sell drugs and gold.
Speaker 1: There's very strict controls about selling gold, and the way
Speaker 1: to avoid that was through the diplomatic black bag, which
Speaker 1: is to say, diplomats have immunity, and the diplomats luggage
Speaker 1: and briefcases cannot be inspected by customs officials. So North
Speaker 1: Korea decided to sell gold and brought opium to be
Speaker 1: processed in and the man who had that bright idea
Speaker 1: to use the diplomatic black bag was a young North
Speaker 1: Korean official named John Song Tech. Since then, these money
Speaker 1: making techniques have only gotten more sophisticated. The leadership like,
Speaker 1: you guys go in a business. The leaders say, you guys,
Speaker 1: go into business for yourselves. You get your own export
Speaker 1: import network, on your own book, and as long as
Speaker 1: you just turned the money over to me, then we
Speaker 1: won't have a problem. This is a little bit like
Speaker 1: the mafia, where they have to kick up the money
Speaker 1: for the regime. And that maybe what ultimately got Kim
Speaker 1: jong Nam in trouble because as times got tight and
Speaker 1: quotas got harder to hit, North Korean elites may have
Speaker 1: started eyeing each other's money ventures and there was a competition.
Speaker 1: There was a competition, almost a feeding frenzy among North
Speaker 1: Korean elites trying to earn foreign currency because it ingratiates
Speaker 1: you to the leader. For North Korean elites, there was
Speaker 1: an arms race to make money. And if Kim jong
Speaker 1: nam had one advantage above the rest, it's that he
Speaker 1: lived in a place where money, clean and dirty, was
Speaker 1: easy to make and even easier to hide. Macau. In
Speaker 1: two thousand four, American law enforcement agencies discovered that Chinese
Speaker 1: gangs were smuggling North Korean made counterfeits, fake currency, fake cigarettes,
Speaker 1: and even fake viagra into the port of Newark, New Jersey.
Speaker 1: What followed is a masterclass and espionage. Two American spies,
Speaker 1: undercover as an engaged couple, infiltrated the criminal network. They
Speaker 1: began helping the group's transport containers of counterfeit goods passed
Speaker 1: you as customs, such as narcotics, and even surface to
Speaker 1: air missiles. After winning the smugglers trust, the love birds
Speaker 1: invited them to a fake wedding on a yacht off
Speaker 1: the coast of Atlantic City. The criminals came to America
Speaker 1: and stepped inside limousines that, according to the wedding invitation,
Speaker 1: would take them to the ceremony. Inside the limousines tuxedo
Speaker 1: clad FBI agents. The entire operation led to the indictment
Speaker 1: of eighties seven suspects, But the biggest surprise came when
Speaker 1: secret agents followed the money. It led straight to the
Speaker 1: Shining city on the Pearl River Delta, Macau. Within a year,
Speaker 1: investigators had discovered that nearly every bank in Macau was
Speaker 1: laundering super dollars for the North Korean regime. Big banks,
Speaker 1: little banks. It didn't matter. Almost all were involved. Even
Speaker 1: the local branch of the Bank of China, the fifth
Speaker 1: largest bank on the planet, was allegedly laundering counterfeit money.
Speaker 1: When it came time to slap Macau's banks with penalties,
Speaker 1: the Ues Department of Justice ultimately decided to leave the
Speaker 1: bigger institutions like the Bank of China alone, presumably to
Speaker 1: avoid triggering a global economic catastrophe. Instead, it targeted one small,
Speaker 1: family owned institution called Banko Delta Asia. Sanctions reigned down
Speaker 1: on the tiny bank. Suddenly, the institution could no longer
Speaker 1: deal in US currency, essentially locking it out of the
Speaker 1: global economy. The bank froze all of its accounts linked
Speaker 1: to North Korea out of fear of being next. So
Speaker 1: did every other bank in Macau. According to congressional testimony,
Speaker 1: the freeze worked, North Korea's production lines ground to a halt.
Speaker 1: Even the famously dodgy government of Macau instituted a ream
Speaker 1: of new money laundering laws, forcing North Korea's criminal elements
Speaker 1: to find new ways to bank their cash. By this point,
Speaker 1: Kim Jong Nam had been living in Macau for at
Speaker 1: least five years. No evidence, however, has ever tied him
Speaker 1: to the laundering scheme. I don't know whether he was
Speaker 1: involved in the Banko Delta Asia situation, but I think
Speaker 1: the reasons for both of these things, for Kim jong
Speaker 1: Nam being there and for Banko Delta Asia being a
Speaker 1: conduit for North Korea or risks on the fact that
Speaker 1: Macau was a pretty opaque place. It's difficult, however, to
Speaker 1: believe that the son of North Korea's ruler, once the
Speaker 1: assumed heir to the whole regime, would be unaware what
Speaker 1: his dad was doing at his neighborhood bank. In fact,
Speaker 1: reports suggest that Kim jong Nam had access to a
Speaker 1: substantial cash of counterfeit super dollars, and shortly after the
Speaker 1: Bank of Delta Asia scandal, it appears that Kim jong
Speaker 1: nam began searching for novel ways to make and hide
Speaker 1: large sums of money, and in the process he might
Speaker 1: have helped make North Korea one of the most dangerous
Speaker 1: and powerful countries on the planet. In the early two thousands,
Speaker 1: when Kim jong Nam was comfortably settled in Macau, North
Speaker 1: Korea began to pivot from physical counterfeiting and smuggling to cybercrime. This,
Speaker 1: of course, is one of the great ironies of North Korea,
Speaker 1: few citizens there have access to a computer. Those who
Speaker 1: do are heavily surveiled with screenshots taken of their activity
Speaker 1: every time in app is opened. Instead of the Internet,
Speaker 1: most only have access to an intranet network called Kwangmyong
Speaker 1: meaning bright Light, which gives access to up to five
Speaker 1: thousand state approved websites. Only the elite have access to
Speaker 1: the open Internet. And yet, despite this technological repression, North
Speaker 1: Korea is home to some of the most obscenely talented
Speaker 1: computer technicians on the planet. More than seven thousand North
Speaker 1: Koreans worked in the country cyber army, and they start early.
Speaker 1: You know, North Korean hackers are North Korean hackers are
Speaker 1: recruited at about ten years old, so you get a
Speaker 1: young person that's really good at computer systems, especially computer coding.
Speaker 1: North Korea finds them when they're in late elementary school.
Speaker 1: That's where they find their cyber warriors. North Korea does
Speaker 1: that with gymnasts as well, and figure skaters and piano players.
Speaker 1: There's not a great difference in their respective systems. You
Speaker 1: have an aptitude for a certain subject, that's basically what
Speaker 1: you're going to do for the rest of your life. Indeed,
Speaker 1: according to the journalists Ed Caesar of the New Yorker,
Speaker 1: students from Kimilsung University and the Kim Check University the
Speaker 1: technology often quote outperform American and Chinese colleges in the
Speaker 1: international collegiate programming contests. Year after year, North Korean students
Speaker 1: compete at the highest levels at the International Mathematical Olympiad.
Speaker 1: Here again is Jenny Town. North Korea's cyber capabilities have
Speaker 1: really grown over the years um and grown to be
Speaker 1: very adept and very sophisticated. The types of cyber crimes
Speaker 1: that we've seen have been pretty elaborate. UM. We've even
Speaker 1: seen in their intelligence gathering side, a real growth in
Speaker 1: the sophistication of how they try to do different like
Speaker 1: phishing campaigns. So it is a real and a formidable
Speaker 1: force and a real growing part of North Korea's economic strategy.
Speaker 1: Under names like the Beagle Boys, the Lazarus Group, and
Speaker 1: New Romantic, North Korea's Enemy Collapse Sabotage Bureau YEP that's
Speaker 1: its name, have infected computers in more than a hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty countries, where they've robbed banks, held organizations for
Speaker 1: ransom and hacked a t MS. North Korea's computer wizards
Speaker 1: have digitally laundered money in the Philippines and have crypto
Speaker 1: jack that has stolen more than one point seven five
Speaker 1: billion dollars in cryptocurrency. They've even breached the servers of
Speaker 1: the South Korean Army, obtaining the military plans of their
Speaker 1: neighboring enemy. This is Kim jong Nam's legacy in North
Speaker 1: Korea and for that matter, the world. Na If we
Speaker 1: go and track Kim jong Nam at the Korean Computer
Speaker 1: Center from around they're importing computers into the country. They're
Speaker 1: importing computers into North Korean schools. Those are the tools
Speaker 1: they eventually was for recruiting hackers. Kim jong Nam is
Speaker 1: essentially responsible for a lot of the computer hardware that
Speaker 1: the cyber warriors trained on in the nineties and the
Speaker 1: early two thousand's. Kim Jong Nam planted the seeds for
Speaker 1: North Korea's vast and powerful network of hackers, and not
Speaker 1: only that, he might have been actively supporting these activities
Speaker 1: from his home in Macau. Shortly after the Banko Delta fiasco,
Speaker 1: Kim jong Nam visited the Shangri La Hotel in Bangkok
Speaker 1: and met with an expert in Internet security. Chong Nam
Speaker 1: used a false name, introducing himself as Johnny Kim, and
Speaker 1: explained that he was running a business and he needed
Speaker 1: an I T specialist who could protect his servers. Unaware
Speaker 1: of Johnny Kim's real identity and unsure of the nature
Speaker 1: of his work, the Internet expert agreed to take the job.
Speaker 1: The same man who would anonymously discuss these details with
Speaker 1: Anna Fifield told her that something was fishy about the
Speaker 1: man called Johnny Kim. He described going around places in
Speaker 1: Southeast Asia together with Kim Jong Nam and just talked
Speaker 1: about how security conscious he was. He always walked down
Speaker 1: back alleys and places where he knew that there wouldn't
Speaker 1: be UH security cameras. He was always on the lookout
Speaker 1: for Japanese people, in particular because Japanese journalists had been
Speaker 1: so aggressive or active in trying to track him down
Speaker 1: and talk to him. So he was someone who very
Speaker 1: much had his wits about him. Even as a manager,
Speaker 1: Kim Jong Nam was secretive. The Internet expert was paid
Speaker 1: in one dollar bills later revealed to be counterfeit super dollars.
Speaker 1: The man was paired with two cyber specialists, both of
Speaker 1: them apparently North Korean's. Eventually, the Internet expert learned that
Speaker 1: kim so called business was actually dozens upon dozens of
Speaker 1: gambling websites. Online gambling is an easy way to launder money.
Speaker 1: It's virtual, there's high cash flow coming from across the globe,
Speaker 1: and there are significant profit margins by running not just one,
Speaker 1: but dozens of gambling sites. It's believed that Kim jong
Speaker 1: Nam could spread illegal and counterfeit funds around, diluting suspicious activity,
Speaker 1: and this suggests a tantalizing theory. When North Korea could
Speaker 1: no longer launder physical dollars in Macau's bank, did it
Speaker 1: find a work around by embracing the murky world of
Speaker 1: internet gambling? And was Kim jong Nam the mastermind behind it?
Speaker 1: And more to the point, if he was making money
Speaker 1: this way, was he keeping it for himself or sending
Speaker 1: it back to the regime. There are also plenty of
Speaker 1: suggestions that he was still in cohots with the regime,
Speaker 1: whether it was sending money back, you know, raising money
Speaker 1: for the regime or for his uncle Down Song Tech,
Speaker 1: who was he was very close to. Were Chang Song
Speaker 1: Tech and Kim Jong Nam working together to launder money
Speaker 1: was Kim jong Nam sent to Macau not to satisfy
Speaker 1: his capitalist playboy lifestyle, but because it was a kind
Speaker 1: of place where he could exploit capitalism. This was a
Speaker 1: place where he was able to do a lot of
Speaker 1: his business, including potentially running computing or tech businesses for
Speaker 1: the North Korean regime. They've been suggestions over the years
Speaker 1: that he was running the Korean Computer Center and involved
Speaker 1: in a lot of cyber activities, either on behalf of
Speaker 1: the North Korean regime or on on his own behalf.
Speaker 1: There we don't have solid answers to these questions. Kim
Speaker 1: jong Nam might have had access to millions of dollars
Speaker 1: at a time, and other North Korean elites were desperate
Speaker 1: to make money for the regime, And as one of
Speaker 1: our sources who agreed to speak on background suggested, there's
Speaker 1: another layer to this tantalizing theory. Kim jong Nam's online
Speaker 1: businesses were much more than just fronts to make money.
Speaker 1: They were also backdoors to order and procure equipment for
Speaker 1: the regime. That is, when North Korea could an import
Speaker 1: and item because of sanctions, Kim Jong Nam, from the
Speaker 1: safety of Southern China could use his online businesses to
Speaker 1: procure it for them, and according to our source, he
Speaker 1: used that loophole to buy gadgets and tech that could
Speaker 1: be used to fuel North Korea's cyber warfare division. Then
Speaker 1: Kim jong Nam was not living a life of exile
Speaker 1: in Macao. He was actively helping build up one of
Speaker 1: the regime's most notorious and now dangerous divisions. In other words,
Speaker 1: Kim jong Nam had power, and that might have stoked
Speaker 1: the ire of other North Korean elites who were not
Speaker 1: only jealous of the connections he had, but also struggling
Speaker 1: to make their payments to the regime. They probably wanted
Speaker 1: to get their hands on his secret recipe, but from
Speaker 1: his capitalist perch and Macau, Kim jong Nam saw no
Speaker 1: reason to share it, so maybe they wanted to take
Speaker 1: it from him. We had to learn more about this theory.
Speaker 1: Was it possible that Kim jong Nam's death was in
Speaker 1: fact sparked not by Kim Jong un but by jealous
Speaker 1: North Korean elites desperate to get their hands on his
Speaker 1: money making software. The theory does make some sense. After all,
Speaker 1: there were at least two attempts on Kim jong Nam's
Speaker 1: life in the years prior long before Kim jong un
Speaker 1: held any power. It's extremely unlikely his father, when he
Speaker 1: was in control, had ordered these hits. So who did
Speaker 1: Was someone trying to clear the path to the throne,
Speaker 1: or were they trying to get their hands on his money?
Speaker 1: Or were they after this tantalizing software that he and
Speaker 1: only he controlled. We tried to corroborate our anonymous sources claims,
Speaker 1: but most experts we interviewed couldn't confirm it. However, they
Speaker 1: didn't rule it out either. My name is Sue Kim.
Speaker 1: I'm a policy analyst at the Rare Incorporation UM. I
Speaker 1: was a CIA analyst on North Korea. Sue Kim has
Speaker 1: thought about these possibilities. Could someone else have ordered the
Speaker 1: hit on Kim jong nam, whether on their own or
Speaker 1: maybe as a favor to the new Supreme leader? Absolutely possible.
Speaker 1: I would say that for for a senior North three
Speaker 1: officials due to want to do this as a quote
Speaker 1: unquote favor, But I think this would have to be
Speaker 1: approved by by Kim jongan because not just because of
Speaker 1: the high stakes involved in terms of you know, killing
Speaker 1: a family member, but because there's potential backlash. I think
Speaker 1: up to a certain point, yes, it's possible, But then again,
Speaker 1: keep in mind that decisions authority it's all resting on
Speaker 1: Kim Jongan, so very likely Kim Jongan had to at
Speaker 1: least approve the hit, But that's not the same as
Speaker 1: ordering the hit, and as Kim Jongan had proven before,
Speaker 1: he wasn't afraid to do that. That takes us back
Speaker 1: to the beginning of this episode, when Kim Jongan was
Speaker 1: masquerading as a Brazilian boy called Joseph Plague. While studying
Speaker 1: in Switzerland, Kim Jongan fell in love with the snow
Speaker 1: and the mountains. He learned how to ski and spent
Speaker 1: weekends at resorts outside the city of Burn. When he
Speaker 1: became Supreme Leader, Kim Jongan was determined to bring these
Speaker 1: places to North Korea, So about a year and a
Speaker 1: half into his regime, Kim Jongan told Chang Song tech
Speaker 1: that he wanted to build both a ski resort and
Speaker 1: a water park. According to the testimony of a defector,
Speaker 1: this is where Uncle Chang first slipped. He suggested that
Speaker 1: the young ruler should focus on the economy before he
Speaker 1: ventured to build a water park. Kim jong un did
Speaker 1: not take this suggestion. Well, we don't know what happened
Speaker 1: behind the palace walls, but it's reasonable to assume that
Speaker 1: Kim Jongan argued that building a luxury resort was building
Speaker 1: up the economy because in two thousand and six the
Speaker 1: United Nations targeted North Korea with sanctions hitting nearly every
Speaker 1: sector of its economy with the exception of tourism. Tourism
Speaker 1: has been a very big part also of how the
Speaker 1: state makes money. And um, these were special zones for
Speaker 1: inter crean tourism, and there was actually a lot of
Speaker 1: activity that went on between them. Um, there's a real
Speaker 1: rise in tourism from China, and you saw a real
Speaker 1: emphasis and investment in creating more attractive tourist destinations, so
Speaker 1: different Hot Springs, Um. You know, the build up of
Speaker 1: the beach resort at once and over the years the
Speaker 1: massive ground um Ski resort. So what Uncle Tong saw
Speaker 1: as wasteful spending on piddling pleasure resorts was in fact,
Speaker 1: in Kim Jongan's mind at least an investment, a way
Speaker 1: to make much needed money in a legitimate way. It
Speaker 1: was also a way to convince citizens that life was
Speaker 1: indeed getting better. But Chung's opposition made Kim Jongan skeptical
Speaker 1: of his father's old number two, and so he's looking around.
Speaker 1: He's looking around. He's looking at these grizzled six seventy
Speaker 1: five year old North Korean officials. He's looking to see
Speaker 1: who's going to be loyal and who's going to form
Speaker 1: an alternative power center, who's going to be a threat
Speaker 1: to his consolidation of power. That's where Jong Song Tech
Speaker 1: starts to loom large. Eventually, Uncle Tong complied, and within
Speaker 1: a few years, as North Korea plunged into another food crisis,
Speaker 1: Kim Jong Un would proudly unveil the mash Young Ski
Speaker 1: Resort and the muns Who Water Park. He constructs a
Speaker 1: dolphin aquarium and developed the Sandy Beach front around the
Speaker 1: Royal compounded One's Hunt with department stores, golf courses, beach resorts,
Speaker 1: and missile launch pads. But according to defectors, Kim Jong
Speaker 1: Un and Uncle Tong's relationship never recovered, and he started
Speaker 1: to undermine his death. He started to undermine his nephew.
Speaker 1: And we have to look at it from the perspective
Speaker 1: of Jong Song Tech. John Song Tech is a man
Speaker 1: in his late sixties. He had been in the center
Speaker 1: of North Korea power going back to the nineties seventies,
Speaker 1: he had fallen in and out of favor, and so
Speaker 1: you could see Jong Sung Tech being sixty five sixty
Speaker 1: six years old in two thousand eleven and said, why
Speaker 1: am I going to turn over all of this power?
Speaker 1: Why am I going to turn over my life's work
Speaker 1: to my snot nosed twentysomething nephew. Maybe there is a
Speaker 1: degree of resentment in that, and so that starts to
Speaker 1: form these tensions. Things got even testier when the dear
Speaker 1: Leader ordered Changue to relinquish control of a condensed milk
Speaker 1: factory and a fish farm. Apparently members of the government
Speaker 1: loyal to change blocked the transition when Kim Jong UN's
Speaker 1: men came to take over. Some say that was the
Speaker 1: last straw. Others suggest that Kim Jong Un had this
Speaker 1: covered Uncle Chang's secret that in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 1: when Kim Jong Il was recovering from a stroke, Chang
Speaker 1: had been pushing unsuccessfully to have King Chong Nam chosen
Speaker 1: as the next successor. Chang Song Tech, in other words,
Speaker 1: was a trader to Kim Jong Un from the start.
Speaker 1: Kim Jong Un sort of had to put his uncle
Speaker 1: down because his uncle was undermining him. In late Uncle
Speaker 1: Chang was escorted to the Kongon Military Academy, were two
Speaker 1: of his closest deputies and arguably two of his closest friends,
Speaker 1: were trotted in front of anti aircraft machine guns. The
Speaker 1: weapons designed to pierce the steel fuselage of airplanes, turned
Speaker 1: the men into pulp. The remains were incinerated with flamethrowers.
Speaker 1: Uncle Chang immediately face did change. Had survived purges before,
Speaker 1: He had been demoted in the past and even sent
Speaker 1: to re education camps. But when Kim Jong il was
Speaker 1: in charge, he was always considered family an accordion playing
Speaker 1: goofball on the other side of the dining table. But
Speaker 1: this was a new time and Uncle Chang's behavior was
Speaker 1: a tangible threat for the new Supreme leader, and a
Speaker 1: Jong Song Tech was undermining him in a way that
Speaker 1: really not only threatened Kim Jong un as a political figure,
Speaker 1: but probably threatened Kim Jong UN's life. He was probably
Speaker 1: the only person in North Korea's political culture that could
Speaker 1: ferment an assassination against his nephew. Jong Sung Tech was
Speaker 1: the only one who had the intelligence and the personality
Speaker 1: and the connections to be able to make the morning
Speaker 1: after the coup successful. On December eighth, about a week
Speaker 1: after his friends were executed, Chang was accused of dozens
Speaker 1: of charges. Namely, he had been planting his followers and
Speaker 1: keep posts and had quote work to stretch his tentacles
Speaker 1: even to the People's army with a foolish calculation that
Speaker 1: he would succeed in staging a coup. Other charges seemed
Speaker 1: more petty and ridiculous. He was accused of clapping for
Speaker 1: the new leader quote halfheartedly. A photograph of him leaning
Speaker 1: on an arm rest during a speech a bored expression
Speaker 1: on his face was used to prove his disloyalty. Kim
Speaker 1: Jong Un was unsparing. He described Uncle Chang as quote
Speaker 1: despicable human scum who was worse than a dog. Only
Speaker 1: a week past between Chang's arrest and his sentencing, he
Speaker 1: was taken from the courtroom to the Kongo military training area, and,
Speaker 1: just like his deputies before him, told to kneel in
Speaker 1: front of an anti aircraft gun. The death of Uncle
Speaker 1: Tongue would be a wake up call. It didn't matter
Speaker 1: how loyal you were to Kim Jongan's father. It didn't
Speaker 1: matter how well you help the transition of power. It
Speaker 1: didn't matter if you had good ideas about the economy,
Speaker 1: and it didn't matter that years earlier your passport said
Speaker 1: you were father and son. It really did send a
Speaker 1: message to not only Jiangsung text faction as to this
Speaker 1: is not your house, this is my house, UM, and
Speaker 1: you need to fall in line, UM like I might
Speaker 1: be young, but I still am decisive and can be brutal.
Speaker 1: In other words, if you assent, you die. After Uncle
Speaker 1: Tong's death, Kim Jongan proudly stated, our party detected and
Speaker 1: purged the anti party counter revolutionary factionalists. His uncle's friends
Speaker 1: were quickly replaced from their posts. Dozens of his closest
Speaker 1: family members were sent to prison camps. Defector testimonies suggests
Speaker 1: that more than thirty of Uncle Tong's associates, including family,
Speaker 1: would be killed by firing squad, but by the end
Speaker 1: of one of Uncle Tong's closest associates, confidants and friends
Speaker 1: was out there still alive. Kim Tongue ma'am on the
Speaker 1: Next Big Brother. How North Korea's relationship with the United
Speaker 1: States may have contributed to Kim Jong Nam's death in
Speaker 1: more ways than one. Big Brother is a production of
Speaker 1: School of Humans and I Heart Radio and hosted by
Speaker 1: me even Lee. Lucas Riley is our writer, co director
Speaker 1: and associate producer. Amelia Brock is our senior producer, co
Speaker 1: director and editor. Executive producers are Virginia Prescott, Brandon Barr,
Speaker 1: Else Crowley, and Jason English. Our fact checker is Aaron Blakemore.
Speaker 1: Music composed by Jason Todd Shannon and Tunewalders. Original score
Speaker 1: mixed by Vick Stafford, Audio editing by Jesse nice Wanger,
Speaker 1: sound design and mixed by Harper W. Harris. Audio correction
Speaker 1: by Josh Fisher. Voice acting by Mark Chung and Mike Coscarelli.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Ryan Murdoch and Will Pearson. If you're
Speaker 1: enjoying the podcast, help us get the word out by
Speaker 1: leaving a rating in your favorite podcast app. Until next time,
Speaker 1: I'm even Lee. School of Humans