Thread by @pleasesaveour

Let's start here: (A North Korea Fuqqery thread)

Hidden cameras expose Kim Jong-un's clandestine weapon and drugs trade | 60 Minutes Australia

#TheMole
Hidden cameras over a 10 year period, caught interesting characters in the act of selling serious arms, weapons systems, and manufactured meth for DPRK for money.

bbc.com/news/world-asi…

Could it all be true? One former UN official told the BBC he found it "highly credible".

The film, titled The Mole, is the work of Danish film maker Mads Brügger, who says he orchestrated a complex three-year sting operation to reveal how North Korea flouts international law.

The series follows Ulrich Larsen, called "the Mole", a former chef living on benefits who spends 10 years infiltrating the Korean Friendship Association (KFA)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mole:…

Korean Friendship Association

KFA was founded in 2000 with the purpose of building international tiesDPRK. It has members from 120 countries. The KFA has full recognition from the DPRK. It has offices in DPR Korea, Spain

korea-dpr.com/kfa.html

Oh yes, an office in the US too!

KFAUSA as part of the leading organization of DPRK friends and supporters, is deeply committed to promoting cultural exchange as well as diplomatic and economic cooperation between the DPRK and the United States.

kfausa.org

And who is the head KFA? A very strange character indeed. Alejandro Cao de Benós

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alejandro…

He likes to wear DPRK military outfits.

Alejandro Cao de Benós can help you explore mining interests—or tell you that Kim Jong Un is in perfectly good health.

bloomberg.com/news/features/…

He brokers arms deals as well as street drugs manufactured in North Korea. They call this "Sanction Busting"

Cao de Benos, 46, is believed to be the only Westerner ever employed by the North Korean government

npr.org/sections/paral…

Is this guy on the CIA radar? I'm sure he is.

Alejandro Cao de Benos of the Korea Friendship Association allegedly brokered payments for a North Korean firm

nknews.org/2020/08/spanis…

Sanction busting isn't only happening inside these sympathetic groups NK has brokers around the world. Chan Han Choi was arrested in 2017 in AU, and just plead guilty to one count of contravening a UN sanction enforcement law and another of contravening a sanction law

Withdrawn charges included providing services for a weapons of mass destruction program.

abc.net.au/news/2021-02-1…

The first count Mr Choi pleaded guilty to relates to brokering the sale of arms and tactical measurement units from North Korea and brokering the sale of petrol from Iran to North Korea.

news.com.au/national/nsw-a…

NK’s continued success in growing and expanding its illicit arms trade is perhaps the starkest illustration of a trend that has long drawn the alarm of Korea experts

nationalinterest.org/blog/korea-wat…

What is the likelihood that Erik Prince is involved somehow?

According to a 2019 UN report, NK has developed a sophisticated criminal network to continue selling arms through a diverse cast of proxies, front companies, and foreign middlemen.
undocs.org/S/2019/171

In recent years, North Korea became a leading arms supplier to the Houthi movement in Yemen, as well as militant groups in Uganda and Sudan, mainly by funneling its merchandise through a Syrian company registered to arms trafficker Hussein al-Ali

Pyongyang has likewise succeeded

in cultivating valuable ties to the Libyan Defense Ministry resulting in an arms contract that the Dep Min of DPRK’s Ministry of Military Equip, described as necessary “for the required defence systems and ammunition needed to maintain stability of Libya.”
piie.com/blogs/north-ko…

Country accelerates imports of petroleum products through illicit ship-to-ship transfers; weapons sales in Yemen, Libya and Sudan

wsj.com/articles/u-n-r…

I just found this interesting. The Australian 60 minutes segment also has a great interview with Otto Warmbiers parents.

@threadreaderapp unroll please