(Newswire.net— October 20, 2020) — A retired chef from Denmark managed to penetrate to the very top of the North Korean secret service out of pure curiosity. This is no joke, but instead the topic of a documentary that was shown on Danish television and perhaps a case for the UN, the BBC reports.
In fact, it is not clear to Ulrich Larsen himself why he embarked on the dangerous journey of leading a double life as a spy on a mission in North Korea. He lives with his family in the suburbs of Copenhagen and worked as a cook until he retired early. And then – he went to North Korea.
“I’ve always been a completely ordinary person,” says Larsen. An ordinary Danish person is certainly not a character in a spy movie, let alone the protagonist of a documentary about espionage, however, that is exactly the case with Ulrich Larsen.
Because he actually managed to reveal the plans and work of the secret services of North Korea, the documentary “Mole – in a secret mission in North Korea” is interesting not only to the general television audience but also provides intelligence significant to the UN. In a short documentary series from Danish television, realized with the public services of Norway (PRC), Sweden (SVT), and Great Britain (BBC), it can be seen that the North Korean leadership is trying in every way to circumvent UN sanctions and is ready to deliver drugs and weapons to make money and get access to oil.
For Larsen, it all started almost by accident, out of sheer curiosity about the closed off country. He also watched the Danish comedy “Red Chapel”, which mocks the regime in Pyongyang. After that, the former chef entered the company of Danish-North Korean friendship, as he himself said, a rather strange and boring fellowship.
But, although otherwise withdrawn, he quickly climbed in the hierarchy of the organization. He met with the president of the International Association of Friends of North Korea (KFA), Alejandro Kao de Benos, a Spanish of royal origin who is especially committed to the interests of North Korea.
Soon de Benos told him to look for investors who are willing to invest in North Korea, despite sanctions against that country. Director Mads Brügger decided to include “Mr. James” in the story – played by Jim Latrash-Quartrup, a former member of the French Legion of foreigners and a convicted drug dealer that he is a possible investor from Scandinavia.
Larsen became a close associate of the Spaniard and travelled to North Korea for the first time. He went deeper and deeper into a secret life that even his wife knew nothing about. In the next ten years, he has managed to become a significant figure in the KFA, and through the North Korean Ministry of Culture, he had become increasingly close to people at the very top of the country – and its secret service.
All this did not go unnoticed in real life: Denmark and Sweden ordered their ambassadors to the UN to inform the UN sanctions commission about what was seen in the film. Because, the film shows that North Korea is actively acting to circumvent sanctions, and that is a reason for concern of their governments, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, Ann Linde, and her Danish colleague, Jeppe Kofod, announced this Monday.
“We take the content of this documentary very seriously because it opens up a whole series of extremely problematic questions.”
The content of the documentary has already been discussed in the European Union, and the Danish chef will be on his way again: this time to the United Nations. At the end of the documentary, the main character and the director pull the trigger: “Mr. James” disappeared at the moment when he was supposed to appear with millions. And the mole Larsen could finally tell his wife everything. He also said that he lost contact with his Spanish mentor who, of course, cut off all contact with him, which saddened Larsen.
The director eventually asked him if he would like to be a spy again. “Not in the same way,” he replied, adding, “But never say never again.”