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[theme music playing]

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[crowd cheering]

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[narrator] You've seen history's
most notorious dictators

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use this playbook
to navigate their path to power.

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And that by following their example,
absolute rule can be yours as well.

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Toughness is good
because people respect you.

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[guns blasting]

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[narrator] But by one measure,
even these titans of tyranny fall short.

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[man]
The problem that tyrants ultimately face

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is that they're really not able
to achieve permanent stability.

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[crowd cheering]

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[narrator] But what if I told you
the playbook held the key

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to keeping your regime alive,

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not just through
the end of your days, but beyond.

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And you can see
this tyrannical dream in action

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in one of the most isolated
and repressive countries on Earth.

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North Korea's founding father,
Kim Il Sung, and his son Kim Jong Il

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built a system of absolute rule
that is still going strong today

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while turning their nation
into a shrine to their family's greatness,

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a nuclear power, and a prison state.

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They've done the single most important
thing you can do as a tyrant.

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Survive in power.

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[narrator]Time to reveal the path

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to tyranny's greatest
and most elusive goal.

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Immortality.

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By now, it should be clear to you.

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To endure as a tyrant,
you need to do more than build a movement.

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You need to be the movement.

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It's a hallmark of tyranny
going back to ancient times

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that there is this cult of personality
surrounding the tyrant,

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which portrays him

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as the fount of all wisdom,
the fount of all virtue.

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[narrator] And while most cults
of personality die with their leaders,

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North Korea's has survived
for three generations.

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I look at North Korea, really,
as a theocracy to create that aura

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that in fact, they are,
quote, unquote, "God-like."

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They believe in them,
much like a belief in religious faith.

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[narrator] But to understand
how the Kims pulled this off,

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you need to know a few things
about how the dynasty began.

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[Jeong-Ho] In his 30s, Kim Il Sung is
an anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter

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that was quite well-known
fighting for Korean independence.

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[man] After the end of World War II,
Korea's liberated.

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American troops entered Korea
from the south

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and Russian troops enter Korea
from the north,

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and the man that
the Soviet Union puts into power

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in the north is Kim Il Sung.

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Kim Il Sung took
a lot of the things from the playbook

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that Stalin utilized
for controlling the Soviet Union.

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One of the ways Kim Il Sung
kept power was regular purges.

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The people around
the core of power are killed

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or sent to gulags either because they are
thought to be plotting to take power

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or just simply as an example
to keep everybody on their toes.

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The Korean War was fought
between North Korea and China on one side

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and South Korea,
the US, and the UN on the other.

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It was a stalemate
and they were devastated.

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They came to the conclusion
that in conventional warfare,

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North Korea is no match
for the United States.

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That in fact, they needed something else,
a super deterrent

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that would guarantee their survivability.

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[narrator] Achieving that
will take more than 50 years

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and an ingredient,
besides enriched uranium,

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rarely found among tyrannical types.

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Teamwork.

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[bell dings]

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But you can't build an everlasting regime
without a strong foundation

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and a plan to keep your population
under total control.

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Here's step one.

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A great thinker once said,

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"A man is only
as faithful as his options."

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[bell dings]

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So if you wanna rule forever,
it helps to be the only game in town.

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[Jeong-Ho]
North Korea stands as an example

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of quite successfully being able
to isolate its people

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from the rest of the world.

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In North Korea,
there's no access to information.

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The television only has one channel.

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Phones are tapped.

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[Jean] North Koreans cannot travel freely.

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They can't travel
around the country freely,

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and they cannot leave the country
without permission.

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[narrator] And the original mastermind
of this isolation program?

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The father of North Korea, Kim Il Sung,

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who, after taking power
with Stalin's help,

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is itching to craft
his own customized tyranny.

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[Jean] By the 1950s,

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Kim Il Sung was starting to chafe
under Soviet influence

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and was starting to see
that he was going to need to make a break.

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[narrator] And so he does

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by creating a brand new
national ideology called Juche.

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Juche. It can be translated
very loosely into "self-reliance."

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He wanted to say, basically,
"We will do everything by ourselves."

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[Jean] Koreans have been facing domination

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from outside forces for centuries.

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The Chinese, the Japanese.

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Juche was created

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to force them to think
about fending for themselves

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and to turn that isolationism
into a source of pride.

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[narrator] According to Juche principles,
cooperating with other nations

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would destroy North Korea's sovereignty,

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and the only way
for the nation to survive

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is to unite under
the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung.

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Juche has been used, very strategically,

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as a way to justify and explain

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why they're so isolated.

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The isolation is an effective tool
to prevent popular discontent

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about the state of the country.

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So to open up North Korea
to this kind of flow of information,

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I think would be quite devastating.

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[narrator] See? Smart move.

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Isolating your nation is a strong step
towards a long and healthy tyranny.

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But we're aiming higher,
to build the regime without end.

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To do that, you're going to need
a good succession plan,

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and this one is playbook approved.

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Dynastic rule is great for leaders

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and it's also great for the coalition,

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the supporters around the leader.

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It's about continuity.

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The coalition have reasons
to stay more loyal because we might say

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"The apple doesn't drop
far from the tree."

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[narrator] But for modern-day tyrants,
building a family dynasty is a tough trick

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which few have been able to pull off.

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Not Saddam with his boys or Gaddafi.

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How about Stalin's kids?
Vasily, Svetlana, Yakov, or Artyom?

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Ever heard of them? Me neither.

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[buzzer honks]

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As North Korean alpha leader,

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Kim Il Sung's cult of personality
continues to grow.

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He becomes determined
that his regime will be the exception.

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He had this idea of replicating

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somewhat of a modern-day monarchy
for the rule of North Korea.

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[narrator] But even monarchies can
get messy when it comes to succession.

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With royal families in Korean history,

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you often had a king
with multiple consorts

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and multiple potential heirs,

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and that was true
with Kim Il Sung as well.

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[narrator] That leaves the leader
with a very important decision.

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Which kid to choose.

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[Jean] He had a son, Kim Pyong Il,

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who was seen as a potential heir.

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[Paul] He was the favorite son.

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He was the son
of Kim Il Sung's second wife,

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who was in greater favor
than his first wife, who had passed away.

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[narrator] While firstborn son,
Kim Jong Il is left out in the cold.

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But North Korea's
future ruler number two has big plans.

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[Paul] If you're born into that family,
you sort of develop from a very young age

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a sense of "kill or be killed,"
"dog-eat-dog" world.

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You either have all the power,
or you have none,

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and there's nothing in between.

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[narrator] To prove his claim, Kim Jong Il
would need to find the right moment

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and make it count.

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In the wake of the latest
purge of unreliable officials,

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the big boss, Kim Il Sung,
has several openings to fill,

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including in the Propaganda Ministry,

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charged with North Korea's
most important pursuit.

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Glorifying the Great Leader.

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Kim Il Sung pays a visit
to North Korea's film studio

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with his 25-year-old son,
Kim Jong Il, by his side.

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He berates the studio workers
for their ineffective propaganda films,

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which are betraying their nation.

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He dares them to have the courage

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to overhaul the studio
and restore it back to glory.

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When no one responds,

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Kim Jong Il volunteers
to take up his father's challenge.

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[Paul] This is one of the vital incidents

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of Kim Jong Il's rise that,
as a good, dutiful son,

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when there was a moment of need,

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he volunteered, boldly,
even though he was young.

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[narrator] Kim Jong Il is immediately
named Cultural Arts Director

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and begins producing
the film Sea of Blood,

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an epic tale
of North Korean self-reliance.

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In it, a 1930s family suffers
under Japanese occupation

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before heroically fighting back,

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based on a story by Kim Il Sung himself.

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It premieres to rave reviews.

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Within two years,

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Kim Jong Il becomes head
of the entire Propaganda Ministry,

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setting him off on his course,
from lost boy to heir apparent.

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[Paul] By 1974, even though
he won't take power for the next 20 years,

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it is communicated to the party that,
yeah, this is the guy.

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[male voice]
Kim Jong Il's royalty is unfailing.

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In short, he's the incarnation of royalty.

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[narrator] In securing his rule
and naming a successor,

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Kim Il Sung did his part
to position the dynasty for success.

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But before the understudy
can take the stage,

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Kim Jong Il will need
to chart his own course

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to grow the family business.

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And when you don't have the help you need,

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sometimes you just need
to take matters into your own hands.

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[Paul] Kim Jong Il developed kidnapping

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as a state tool
that he wasn't shy about using personally

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if he felt he wanted someone,
for whatever reason, in the country.

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[Jean] Kim Jong Il wanted
to train his spies to speak Japanese,

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so he kidnapped Japanese citizens.

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In some cases,
they were just plucked off the beach

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and disappeared.

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And for years,

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their families had no idea
that they were in North Korea.

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[narrator] But for Kim Jong Il,
rising star of North Korean cinema,

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his nation had a staffing issue
that was even more troubling.

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In the 1970s, Kim Jong Il had made films
that were successful in North Korea,

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but were still
kind of made fun of around the world.

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[speaking Korean]

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[Paul] Kim Jong Il recognized
that every form of power

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is based on stories, and his love
for storytelling and for narrative

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could be put to use
to try and perpetuate the regime.

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[narrator]
Looking to crack Hollywood's secrets,

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Kim watches films day and night.

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[Paul] He'd created this huge
worldwide bootleg system

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to provide him with every film
that came out subtitled and printed

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and ready for him to watch.

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And he would keep all of these films

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in a building in Pyongyang
no one could access.

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[narrator] But Kim Jong Il
quickly realizes his biggest problem.

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To make A movies, you need A-list talent.

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So what's this tactic about again?

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Right, kidnapping.

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So now it's a question about who to grab.

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[Jean] Kim Jong Il staged the kidnapping

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of one of South Korea's
most beloved actresses,

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Choi Eun-hee, in Hong Kong,

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and somehow lured her ex-husband,
the revered film director, Shin Sang-ok,

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to look for her,
and they entrapped him as well.

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[Paul] He keeps them imprisoned
without seeing one another

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for… five to six years
until their resolve is essentially broken.

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And then he brings them back together.
He announces publicly

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that they've happily joined
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

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[narrator] Over the next three years,
Shin and Choi produce 17 films

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under Kim Jong Il's watchful eye.

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He basically forced them to create
a film industry, um, in North Korea.

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[roaring]

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[crowd clamoring]

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[yells]

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Shin's films have to fit
Kim's propaganda purposes,

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but he's also allowed
to break the rules a little bit,

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and it actually enhances Kim's power,

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because North Koreans
now have a reason to see these films.

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They are unlike anything else
they've seen in 40 years,

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00:13:58,128 --> 00:14:02,299
but that still serve the purpose
of developing the narrative of the nation.

239
00:14:02,383 --> 00:14:06,095
[narrator] But Kim Jong Il, still just
the heir apparent, has a problem.

240
00:14:06,178 --> 00:14:10,015
That national narrative
is currently based around his father,

241
00:14:10,099 --> 00:14:14,478
the eternal divine
and still living leader, Kim Il Sung.

242
00:14:16,981 --> 00:14:18,065
Quite a challenge.

243
00:14:18,148 --> 00:14:20,985
How do you make your case
to succeed a god?

244
00:14:26,448 --> 00:14:28,492
Pity, poor Kim Jong Il.

245
00:14:28,576 --> 00:14:32,496
He's doing such a great job elevating
his father's cult of personality,

246
00:14:32,580 --> 00:14:35,082
it's leaving him little time
to develop his own.

247
00:14:35,165 --> 00:14:36,417
[machine gun fires]

248
00:14:37,293 --> 00:14:41,797
Kim Jong Il wasn't the gregarious,
charismatic, outgoing, people-person

249
00:14:41,881 --> 00:14:46,218
that his father was.
He was very behind the scenes.

250
00:14:46,886 --> 00:14:49,430
Kim Jong Il needed to build
a narrative for North Korea

251
00:14:49,513 --> 00:14:53,017
past its first leader.
That would give him legitimacy.

252
00:14:53,100 --> 00:14:54,101
[machine gun firing]

253
00:14:54,184 --> 00:14:58,856
[narrator] And that plan begins here,
at North Korea's most sacred site,

254
00:14:58,939 --> 00:15:00,482
Mount Paektu.

255
00:15:01,150 --> 00:15:05,029
Legend has it,
this is where Korean civilization began

256
00:15:05,112 --> 00:15:08,073
with the birth of the God-king, Dangun.

257
00:15:09,116 --> 00:15:10,242
[Jean] For the Kims,

258
00:15:10,910 --> 00:15:15,497
so much of their family lore
is built around Mount Paektu.

259
00:15:16,206 --> 00:15:18,792
[narrator]
According to Kim Il Sung's official bio,

260
00:15:18,876 --> 00:15:20,753
before his nation achieved independence,

261
00:15:20,836 --> 00:15:25,299
his forces battled the Japanese
from a base camp on Paektu's slopes,

262
00:15:25,382 --> 00:15:29,094
while most experts place it
some 200 miles away in Manchuria.

263
00:15:30,387 --> 00:15:32,640
To strengthen his case
as heir to the throne,

264
00:15:32,723 --> 00:15:36,060
Kim Jong Il adds himself
to the family myth.

265
00:15:36,143 --> 00:15:39,730
Kim Jong Il was born in 1941 in Russia,

266
00:15:40,230 --> 00:15:43,067
but he couldn't have been born there.
He had to be a son of the country,

267
00:15:43,150 --> 00:15:46,862
so now the story was written
that he was born on Mount Paektu.

268
00:15:47,780 --> 00:15:49,281
[narrator] In the official account

269
00:15:49,365 --> 00:15:52,660
spread through the media, books,
songs and taught in schools,

270
00:15:52,743 --> 00:15:56,330
Kim Jong Il's birth
was foretold by a swallow,

271
00:15:56,413 --> 00:15:58,165
-who descended from Heaven.
-[swallow crying]

272
00:15:58,248 --> 00:16:02,878
The winter skies parted to reveal
the brightest double rainbow ever seen.

273
00:16:02,962 --> 00:16:05,089
A new star appeared in the sky.

274
00:16:05,756 --> 00:16:08,717
Kim Il Sung's soldiers were so moved

275
00:16:08,801 --> 00:16:11,220
that they burst into joyful song.

276
00:16:11,303 --> 00:16:13,263
[vocalizing]

277
00:16:13,347 --> 00:16:14,640
[narrator] But why stop there?

278
00:16:15,140 --> 00:16:17,059
[Paul] As Kim Jong Il rose to power,

279
00:16:17,142 --> 00:16:21,021
he would have people rewrite
his narrative of his life as it went.

280
00:16:21,105 --> 00:16:25,275
It was very important
that he seemed to have superhuman powers.

281
00:16:25,359 --> 00:16:28,112
So progressively, these stories
become crazier and crazier.

282
00:16:28,696 --> 00:16:31,281
[narrator] The North Korean government
begins issuing press releases

283
00:16:31,365 --> 00:16:35,869
sharing some important "facts"
about the rising leader.

284
00:16:37,830 --> 00:16:39,999
Like that he learned to walk
at three weeks old

285
00:16:40,082 --> 00:16:41,583
and speak at eight weeks.

286
00:16:44,086 --> 00:16:46,088
That he can control the weather.

287
00:16:46,964 --> 00:16:50,300
Ingeniously authored 1500 books.

288
00:16:50,384 --> 00:16:52,886
That the first time he played golf,

289
00:16:52,970 --> 00:16:55,222
-he made 11 holes in one.
-[crowd cheering]

290
00:16:57,016 --> 00:16:59,518
He's such a perfect physiological specimen

291
00:16:59,601 --> 00:17:02,062
that he doesn't produce
any form of human waste,

292
00:17:02,146 --> 00:17:04,189
so he has no need for a toilet.

293
00:17:04,273 --> 00:17:05,983
-[toilet gurgling]
-[snaps fingers]

294
00:17:06,066 --> 00:17:10,404
And in the final gift to humankind,
he also invented the hamburger.

295
00:17:11,030 --> 00:17:15,826
Laugh if you want, but with the playbook,
there's always a method to the madness.

296
00:17:15,909 --> 00:17:19,663
[Jean] That mythology is designed
to enforce the idea

297
00:17:19,747 --> 00:17:22,833
that Kim Jong Il has
a divine right to rule.

298
00:17:22,916 --> 00:17:24,209
[cheering]

299
00:17:24,293 --> 00:17:26,587
[Jeong-Ho] If you think of it
from a logical perspective,

300
00:17:26,670 --> 00:17:29,631
it doesn't really make any sense,
but for a North Korean,

301
00:17:29,715 --> 00:17:32,843
um, it's not a question of logic.
Uh, really it's a question of faith.

302
00:17:33,886 --> 00:17:36,138
[narrator] With eternal leader
Kim Il Sung ailing

303
00:17:36,221 --> 00:17:39,224
and Kim Jong Il
nearing his date with destiny,

304
00:17:39,308 --> 00:17:41,727
that faith is about to be tested.

305
00:17:43,812 --> 00:17:45,105
[machine gun fires]

306
00:17:45,189 --> 00:17:48,650
The 1990s was
a kind of a combination of bad luck.

307
00:17:48,734 --> 00:17:52,029
Bad crops, mismanagement,
so it's basically the perfect storm

308
00:17:52,112 --> 00:17:54,865
that created this,
uh, collapse of the system

309
00:17:54,948 --> 00:17:57,159
that led to widespread famine.

310
00:17:57,242 --> 00:17:58,827
[narrator] That's the last thing you need

311
00:17:58,911 --> 00:18:01,288
when you're racing
to solidify your dynasty.

312
00:18:01,830 --> 00:18:04,166
But what separates
tyranny's legends from losers

313
00:18:04,249 --> 00:18:06,919
is they don't let problems
bring them down.

314
00:18:12,091 --> 00:18:16,512
When you're looking to rule forever,
hunger can have its advantages.

315
00:18:17,763 --> 00:18:21,350
[Alastair] Poor, hungry,
isolated people are no threat to you.

316
00:18:21,433 --> 00:18:24,978
Starving people aren't going to give food
to rebels to fight the government.

317
00:18:25,062 --> 00:18:26,688
They're too weak to fight back.

318
00:18:26,772 --> 00:18:30,150
It's a sad reality,
but starving people works.

319
00:18:30,567 --> 00:18:33,403
[narrator] Like it or not,
the results speak for themselves.

320
00:18:33,487 --> 00:18:36,532
Stalin took advantage
of a deadly famine in the Ukraine

321
00:18:36,615 --> 00:18:41,245
to crush any thoughts of independence
and help keep the Soviet Union intact,

322
00:18:41,662 --> 00:18:43,872
while tens of millions dead in China

323
00:18:43,956 --> 00:18:46,792
as a result
of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward

324
00:18:46,875 --> 00:18:49,586
did little to weaken his hold
over the nation.

325
00:18:50,170 --> 00:18:53,382
And Ethiopian dictator
Mengistu Haile Mariam

326
00:18:53,465 --> 00:18:57,261
weathered his country's
devastating famine in the early 1980s,

327
00:18:57,344 --> 00:18:59,346
ruling for another eight years.

328
00:19:01,223 --> 00:19:04,560
[Jean] The Kims, they've never been able
to feed their own people

329
00:19:04,643 --> 00:19:07,563
despite the mythology
that they had to maintain

330
00:19:07,646 --> 00:19:09,064
that they could do it on their own.

331
00:19:09,940 --> 00:19:13,610
North Korea had relied for so many decades

332
00:19:13,694 --> 00:19:18,782
on the Soviet umbrella in terms of
where they were getting supplies.

333
00:19:18,866 --> 00:19:21,743
[narrator] But in the early '90s,
the Soviet Union falls apart,

334
00:19:21,827 --> 00:19:24,705
and North Korea's economy
quickly follows suit.

335
00:19:24,788 --> 00:19:26,248
[Jean] That just started

336
00:19:26,331 --> 00:19:30,961
this cascading effect
of tragedy after tragedy.

337
00:19:31,044 --> 00:19:35,090
Hundreds of thousands
of North Koreans starved to death,

338
00:19:35,174 --> 00:19:37,801
and those are conservative estimates.
It's probably a lot higher.

339
00:19:38,635 --> 00:19:41,972
I would identify that period
as the lowest of lows.

340
00:19:43,140 --> 00:19:45,976
[narrator] So naturally,
this is the exact moment

341
00:19:46,059 --> 00:19:49,521
when North Korea's
seemingly immortal first leader,

342
00:19:49,605 --> 00:19:52,900
Kim Il Sung, finally decides to check out.

343
00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,528
[speaking Korean]

344
00:19:56,612 --> 00:20:01,074
The death of Kim Il Sung in 1994,
uh, for the majority of North Koreans,

345
00:20:01,158 --> 00:20:04,036
uh, was the most devastating event.

346
00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:06,747
You see, you know, people in mourning.

347
00:20:06,830 --> 00:20:11,668
So it's not just mourning.
It's almost like the Messiah had died.

348
00:20:12,502 --> 00:20:16,715
[narrator] And even worse, Kim Jong Il is
seeing his dream of a perpetual dynasty

349
00:20:16,798 --> 00:20:18,175
hanging by a thread.

350
00:20:18,926 --> 00:20:22,888
[Suki] How do you survive politically
after millions of citizens died,

351
00:20:22,971 --> 00:20:24,431
and there's nothing to eat?

352
00:20:25,724 --> 00:20:27,601
Kim Jong Il goes back to storytelling.

353
00:20:27,684 --> 00:20:31,730
He needed to perpetuate this idea

354
00:20:31,813 --> 00:20:35,108
that the country was under threat
from aggression from the United States.

355
00:20:35,192 --> 00:20:37,903
And so it was
tapping back into the Korean War

356
00:20:37,986 --> 00:20:40,405
and bringing it into the present.

357
00:20:40,489 --> 00:20:43,659
[narrator] And a country at war
needs to stick together.

358
00:20:43,742 --> 00:20:47,621
[Paul] He starts propaganda campaigns
whereby people are told

359
00:20:47,704 --> 00:20:50,207
they should choose
to eat only one or two meals a day

360
00:20:50,290 --> 00:20:53,043
to celebrate Kim Il Sung
and the guerrilla fighters.

361
00:20:54,294 --> 00:20:57,256
[narrator] Inspiring sacrifice is
all part of the job.

362
00:20:57,923 --> 00:21:01,134
What you do in your free time
is your own business.

363
00:21:01,218 --> 00:21:05,013
[Jean] Kim Jong Il had excessive,
expensive tastes.

364
00:21:05,097 --> 00:21:08,475
He spent, I believe,
more than $800,000 a year

365
00:21:08,558 --> 00:21:09,768
just on cognac.

366
00:21:09,851 --> 00:21:14,231
So while his countrymen are allegedly
selling baby flesh in markets,

367
00:21:14,314 --> 00:21:17,025
Kim Jong Il's got
multiple villas and private chefs,

368
00:21:17,109 --> 00:21:20,153
and he's importing liquor by the tons.

369
00:21:20,237 --> 00:21:23,865
He's living
the most luxurious life possible

370
00:21:23,949 --> 00:21:26,368
for him and a very small group of people.

371
00:21:27,953 --> 00:21:30,122
While letting his countrymen die.

372
00:21:31,206 --> 00:21:36,253
[narrator] Yet, despite the Dear Leader's
skill in making hunger work for him,

373
00:21:36,336 --> 00:21:40,048
the Kim family's eternal regime
is still far from secure.

374
00:21:40,132 --> 00:21:43,635
[Paul] Everybody was predicting
that Kim Jong Il was inexperienced,

375
00:21:43,719 --> 00:21:46,096
less charismatic,
less godly than his father

376
00:21:46,179 --> 00:21:48,223
and that sooner or later

377
00:21:48,307 --> 00:21:50,976
he would have to fail,
the regime would have to fail.

378
00:21:51,059 --> 00:21:54,021
[narrator] But Kim Jong Il is
about to prove the doubters wrong

379
00:21:54,104 --> 00:21:58,191
by unleashing the playbook's final
and most devastating tactic

380
00:21:58,275 --> 00:22:02,529
that can turn a starving nation
into an unstoppable force.

381
00:22:07,367 --> 00:22:10,829
A sad truth of becoming a tyrant
is that chances are

382
00:22:10,912 --> 00:22:13,999
you'll someday
have a run-in with meddling foreigners

383
00:22:14,082 --> 00:22:17,544
who think the world
would be better off without you.

384
00:22:17,627 --> 00:22:20,172
We've lost
a lot of Hall of Famers this way.

385
00:22:21,089 --> 00:22:25,719
Like Saddam Hussein,
deposed by a US-led invasion in 2003,

386
00:22:25,802 --> 00:22:29,639
captured by American forces,
and executed three years later.

387
00:22:29,723 --> 00:22:34,478
Adolf Hitler's reign ended
with the Allies encircling Berlin in 1945,

388
00:22:34,561 --> 00:22:38,106
leading the once-mighty Fuhrer
to commit suicide in his bunker.

389
00:22:38,190 --> 00:22:40,567
And let's not forget Muammar Gaddafi,

390
00:22:40,650 --> 00:22:45,030
whose demise was sped along
by a NATO bombing campaign in 2011.

391
00:22:46,865 --> 00:22:50,035
To avoid falling
in their unfortunate footsteps,

392
00:22:50,118 --> 00:22:52,662
nothing but
the ultimate deterrent will do.

393
00:22:54,164 --> 00:22:56,458
[choral music plays]

394
00:22:56,541 --> 00:23:00,170
The Kims call their nuclear weapons
their "treasured sword."

395
00:23:00,253 --> 00:23:01,963
It will protect them.

396
00:23:02,047 --> 00:23:04,841
Nuclear weapons figure so heavily

397
00:23:04,925 --> 00:23:08,387
into the strategy
of how to keep North Korea intact

398
00:23:08,470 --> 00:23:10,680
with the Kim family at the helm.

399
00:23:14,601 --> 00:23:18,688
[narrator] Okay, so how do you become
a nuclear power?

400
00:23:18,772 --> 00:23:21,274
To start, you need world-class scientists,

401
00:23:21,358 --> 00:23:23,610
a few hundred pounds of uranium,

402
00:23:23,693 --> 00:23:27,614
a processing facility,
and a boatload of cash.

403
00:23:27,697 --> 00:23:29,991
Seems simple enough? It's not.

404
00:23:30,617 --> 00:23:32,994
To make nuclear weapons,
you need to run your uranium

405
00:23:33,078 --> 00:23:35,622
through thousands
of specialized centrifuges

406
00:23:35,705 --> 00:23:39,209
that are tightly controlled
for obvious reasons.

407
00:23:39,292 --> 00:23:43,338
The process takes months to complete
and can be slowed by accidents.

408
00:23:44,548 --> 00:23:45,882
Or sabotage.

409
00:23:47,467 --> 00:23:49,761
Then you need to figure out delivery.

410
00:23:49,845 --> 00:23:52,347
You could try
dropping them from airplanes,

411
00:23:52,431 --> 00:23:54,224
firing short-range missiles,

412
00:23:54,307 --> 00:23:57,686
using submarines,
or the superpower weapon of choice,

413
00:23:57,769 --> 00:24:00,355
intercontinental ballistic missiles.

414
00:24:01,314 --> 00:24:02,941
And to be sure your weapon works,

415
00:24:03,024 --> 00:24:05,235
you're going to have
to conduct some tests,

416
00:24:05,318 --> 00:24:07,863
which the world will surely notice

417
00:24:07,946 --> 00:24:11,825
and do everything they can to stop you
before your program is operational.

418
00:24:12,742 --> 00:24:13,994
The race is on.

419
00:24:15,162 --> 00:24:16,830
Like everything in North Korea,

420
00:24:16,913 --> 00:24:19,875
the Kims' nuclear pursuits
are a family affair.

421
00:24:19,958 --> 00:24:22,002
[Jeong-Ho] Before Kim Il Sung died,

422
00:24:22,085 --> 00:24:25,672
he in fact began
to stockpile nuclear materials.

423
00:24:25,755 --> 00:24:27,215
[narrator] That's step one.

424
00:24:27,299 --> 00:24:30,177
But after nearly four decades
of research and development,

425
00:24:30,260 --> 00:24:32,679
the program never fully
got off the ground.

426
00:24:32,762 --> 00:24:34,848
[Jeong-Ho] When he died,
there was no nuclear weapons,

427
00:24:34,931 --> 00:24:38,101
so Kim Jong Il, um, essentially inherits

428
00:24:38,185 --> 00:24:40,896
the nuclear program his father started.

429
00:24:40,979 --> 00:24:43,315
[narrator]
Kim Jong Il's determined to make

430
00:24:43,398 --> 00:24:45,525
his father's nuclear dreams come true.

431
00:24:46,193 --> 00:24:48,945
But with North Korea's economy in crisis,

432
00:24:49,029 --> 00:24:52,407
he doesn't exactly have
boatloads of cash to spare.

433
00:24:52,491 --> 00:24:55,911
So he's going to have
to get entrepreneurial.

434
00:24:55,994 --> 00:24:59,539
[Jeong-Ho] So North Korea was able
to finance this nuclear program

435
00:24:59,623 --> 00:25:02,042
through illicit trade,
counterfeit products,

436
00:25:02,125 --> 00:25:04,836
drugs, smuggling, money laundering.

437
00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:09,382
So whatever illegal methods was
available there, North Korea has done it.

438
00:25:10,050 --> 00:25:14,095
[narrator] In 2009, Kim Jong Il
achieves step number two.

439
00:25:14,179 --> 00:25:18,183
North Korea conducts
a successful underground nuclear test

440
00:25:18,725 --> 00:25:23,772
and also fires a series of missiles
that land in the waters near Japan.

441
00:25:23,855 --> 00:25:26,566
But the family's great enemy
in the west, America,

442
00:25:26,650 --> 00:25:29,069
remains frustratingly out of reach.

443
00:25:30,570 --> 00:25:32,739
[woman] We had spent,
during the Clinton Administration,

444
00:25:32,822 --> 00:25:37,202
quite a lot of time trying to figure out
what the North Koreans were doing.

445
00:25:37,285 --> 00:25:39,829
Kim Dae-Jung,
who was the president of South Korea,

446
00:25:39,913 --> 00:25:42,249
said to me, "This man is not crazy."

447
00:25:42,332 --> 00:25:46,461
"He's very smart, and you need
to see him from that perspective."

448
00:25:47,504 --> 00:25:51,049
[Jeong-Ho] But if we look at exactly
what Kim Jong Il was thinking,

449
00:25:51,132 --> 00:25:54,094
he had to pursue nuclear weapons

450
00:25:54,177 --> 00:25:57,138
as a way of safeguarding,
um, the, uh, country,

451
00:25:57,222 --> 00:26:01,434
and that event actually went on
until 2011 when he-- when he died.

452
00:26:04,604 --> 00:26:07,607
[reporter] Under an intense snowstorm,
thousands of North Koreans

453
00:26:07,691 --> 00:26:09,818
give their last farewell to Kim Jong Il.

454
00:26:09,901 --> 00:26:13,488
For the funeral procession
carried the Dear Leader's coffin.

455
00:26:14,197 --> 00:26:17,075
[narrator] But the great thing
about an eternal regime,

456
00:26:17,158 --> 00:26:19,327
death is a mere speed bump.

457
00:26:21,162 --> 00:26:25,625
Time for Kim Jong Il's son,
Kim Jong Un, to pick up the baton.

458
00:26:26,626 --> 00:26:28,420
When Kim Jong Un takes over,

459
00:26:29,421 --> 00:26:33,008
he actually accelerates
the testing of nuclear weapons

460
00:26:33,091 --> 00:26:36,386
and the testing
of intercontinental missile technologies.

461
00:26:37,762 --> 00:26:40,974
[narrator] And 64 years
after the end of the Korean War,

462
00:26:41,558 --> 00:26:44,644
Kim Jong Un finally finishes the job.

463
00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:48,398
[Jeong-Ho] In 2017,
they conducted their nuclear test.

464
00:26:48,481 --> 00:26:51,776
They claimed to be a hydrogen bomb
capable of hitting the United States.

465
00:26:51,860 --> 00:26:54,237
[narrator] Grandpa would be so proud.

466
00:26:54,321 --> 00:26:58,575
The regime he set up to rule forever
now has the ultimate safety net.

467
00:26:58,658 --> 00:27:00,619
North Korea is a nuclear power.

468
00:27:00,702 --> 00:27:04,414
That gives them the tools
by which the Kim family

469
00:27:04,497 --> 00:27:07,876
can now continue
to perpetuate their power,

470
00:27:07,959 --> 00:27:10,295
their authority,
and succession in the future.

471
00:27:10,378 --> 00:27:12,714
This system, it exists on and on and on.

472
00:27:15,216 --> 00:27:18,928
That's maybe what's different
about this dictatorship.

473
00:27:19,012 --> 00:27:20,513
It just, it won't die.

474
00:27:20,597 --> 00:27:23,767
"The Great Leader" dictatorship
continued on.

475
00:27:23,850 --> 00:27:26,770
[narrator] There it is, as simple as that.

476
00:27:26,853 --> 00:27:28,480
With this playbook in hand,

477
00:27:28,563 --> 00:27:32,192
you can go from broke outcast
to absolute ruler.

478
00:27:32,275 --> 00:27:37,906
Crush all rivals in your path,
dominate your people's bodies and minds,

479
00:27:37,989 --> 00:27:40,700
create your perfect society,

480
00:27:40,784 --> 00:27:43,995
and with an assist
from the ultimate weapon, rule forever.

481
00:27:44,788 --> 00:27:46,831
Come on, what's stopping you?

482
00:27:46,915 --> 00:27:49,125
What kind of person can be a tyrant?

483
00:27:52,545 --> 00:27:54,547
I'm going to give
a very depressing answer.

484
00:27:56,675 --> 00:27:59,094
Anybody can be a tyrant.

485
00:28:04,265 --> 00:28:05,892
[narrator] Ready to take your shot?

486
00:28:05,975 --> 00:28:07,268
[blasting]

487
00:28:09,145 --> 00:28:11,147
[theme music playing]