1 00:00:05,901 --> 00:00:07,695 [theme music playing] 2 00:00:07,778 --> 00:00:09,238 [crowd cheering] 3 00:00:09,321 --> 00:00:12,783 [narrator] You've seen history's most notorious dictators 4 00:00:12,867 --> 00:00:16,203 use this playbook to navigate their path to power. 5 00:00:16,996 --> 00:00:21,709 And that by following their example, absolute rule can be yours as well. 6 00:00:21,792 --> 00:00:24,754 Toughness is good because people respect you. 7 00:00:24,837 --> 00:00:26,547 [guns blasting] 8 00:00:26,630 --> 00:00:30,926 [narrator] But by one measure, even these titans of tyranny fall short. 9 00:00:31,010 --> 00:00:33,012 [man] The problem that tyrants ultimately face 10 00:00:33,095 --> 00:00:37,058 is that they're really not able to achieve permanent stability. 11 00:00:38,309 --> 00:00:39,351 [crowd cheering] 12 00:00:39,435 --> 00:00:41,854 [narrator] But what if I told you the playbook held the key 13 00:00:41,937 --> 00:00:43,522 to keeping your regime alive, 14 00:00:43,606 --> 00:00:46,567 not just through the end of your days, but beyond. 15 00:00:46,650 --> 00:00:49,403 And you can see this tyrannical dream in action 16 00:00:49,487 --> 00:00:52,490 in one of the most isolated and repressive countries on Earth. 17 00:00:54,825 --> 00:00:58,788 North Korea's founding father, Kim Il Sung, and his son Kim Jong Il 18 00:00:58,871 --> 00:01:03,626 built a system of absolute rule that is still going strong today 19 00:01:03,709 --> 00:01:07,463 while turning their nation into a shrine to their family's greatness, 20 00:01:07,546 --> 00:01:10,800 a nuclear power, and a prison state. 21 00:01:10,883 --> 00:01:14,720 They've done the single most important thing you can do as a tyrant. 22 00:01:14,804 --> 00:01:16,055 Survive in power. 23 00:01:16,138 --> 00:01:18,015 [narrator]Time to reveal the path 24 00:01:18,099 --> 00:01:21,102 to tyranny's greatest and most elusive goal. 25 00:01:22,019 --> 00:01:23,062 Immortality. 26 00:01:32,988 --> 00:01:35,241 By now, it should be clear to you. 27 00:01:35,324 --> 00:01:39,453 To endure as a tyrant, you need to do more than build a movement. 28 00:01:39,537 --> 00:01:41,455 You need to be the movement. 29 00:01:48,337 --> 00:01:52,383 It's a hallmark of tyranny going back to ancient times 30 00:01:52,466 --> 00:01:56,720 that there is this cult of personality surrounding the tyrant, 31 00:01:56,804 --> 00:01:58,430 which portrays him 32 00:01:58,514 --> 00:02:02,309 as the fount of all wisdom, the fount of all virtue. 33 00:02:03,769 --> 00:02:06,856 [narrator] And while most cults of personality die with their leaders, 34 00:02:06,939 --> 00:02:10,401 North Korea's has survived for three generations. 35 00:02:10,484 --> 00:02:15,281 I look at North Korea, really, as a theocracy to create that aura 36 00:02:15,364 --> 00:02:18,075 that in fact, they are, quote, unquote, "God-like." 37 00:02:18,159 --> 00:02:21,912 They believe in them, much like a belief in religious faith. 38 00:02:22,538 --> 00:02:24,999 [narrator] But to understand how the Kims pulled this off, 39 00:02:25,082 --> 00:02:28,502 you need to know a few things about how the dynasty began. 40 00:02:32,214 --> 00:02:36,886 [Jeong-Ho] In his 30s, Kim Il Sung is an anti-Japanese guerrilla fighter 41 00:02:36,969 --> 00:02:40,764 that was quite well-known fighting for Korean independence. 42 00:02:40,848 --> 00:02:43,976 [man] After the end of World War II, Korea's liberated. 43 00:02:44,059 --> 00:02:46,604 American troops entered Korea from the south 44 00:02:46,687 --> 00:02:48,898 and Russian troops enter Korea from the north, 45 00:02:49,690 --> 00:02:53,444 and the man that the Soviet Union puts into power 46 00:02:53,527 --> 00:02:55,112 in the north is Kim Il Sung. 47 00:02:58,991 --> 00:03:02,036 Kim Il Sung took a lot of the things from the playbook 48 00:03:02,119 --> 00:03:04,622 that Stalin utilized for controlling the Soviet Union. 49 00:03:05,206 --> 00:03:08,584 One of the ways Kim Il Sung kept power was regular purges. 50 00:03:08,667 --> 00:03:11,879 The people around the core of power are killed 51 00:03:11,962 --> 00:03:16,634 or sent to gulags either because they are thought to be plotting to take power 52 00:03:16,717 --> 00:03:20,387 or just simply as an example to keep everybody on their toes. 53 00:03:26,060 --> 00:03:30,773 The Korean War was fought between North Korea and China on one side 54 00:03:30,856 --> 00:03:33,067 and South Korea, the US, and the UN on the other. 55 00:03:33,692 --> 00:03:36,779 It was a stalemate and they were devastated. 56 00:03:37,821 --> 00:03:41,033 They came to the conclusion that in conventional warfare, 57 00:03:41,116 --> 00:03:43,786 North Korea is no match for the United States. 58 00:03:45,037 --> 00:03:48,249 That in fact, they needed something else, a super deterrent 59 00:03:48,916 --> 00:03:52,419 that would guarantee their survivability. 60 00:03:53,629 --> 00:03:56,215 [narrator] Achieving that will take more than 50 years 61 00:03:56,799 --> 00:03:59,009 and an ingredient, besides enriched uranium, 62 00:03:59,093 --> 00:04:01,470 rarely found among tyrannical types. 63 00:04:02,346 --> 00:04:03,180 Teamwork. 64 00:04:03,681 --> 00:04:05,099 [bell dings] 65 00:04:05,182 --> 00:04:08,769 But you can't build an everlasting regime without a strong foundation 66 00:04:08,852 --> 00:04:11,897 and a plan to keep your population under total control. 67 00:04:12,898 --> 00:04:13,899 Here's step one. 68 00:04:20,114 --> 00:04:21,657 A great thinker once said, 69 00:04:21,740 --> 00:04:24,952 "A man is only as faithful as his options." 70 00:04:25,703 --> 00:04:26,662 [bell dings] 71 00:04:27,705 --> 00:04:31,625 So if you wanna rule forever, it helps to be the only game in town. 72 00:04:32,167 --> 00:04:34,086 [Jeong-Ho] North Korea stands as an example 73 00:04:34,169 --> 00:04:37,172 of quite successfully being able to isolate its people 74 00:04:37,256 --> 00:04:39,174 from the rest of the world. 75 00:04:40,301 --> 00:04:43,429 In North Korea, there's no access to information. 76 00:04:43,512 --> 00:04:46,724 The television only has one channel. 77 00:04:46,807 --> 00:04:48,100 Phones are tapped. 78 00:04:48,183 --> 00:04:50,728 [Jean] North Koreans cannot travel freely. 79 00:04:50,811 --> 00:04:52,855 They can't travel around the country freely, 80 00:04:52,938 --> 00:04:56,358 and they cannot leave the country without permission. 81 00:04:57,067 --> 00:05:00,279 [narrator] And the original mastermind of this isolation program? 82 00:05:00,362 --> 00:05:03,198 The father of North Korea, Kim Il Sung, 83 00:05:03,949 --> 00:05:06,285 who, after taking power with Stalin's help, 84 00:05:06,368 --> 00:05:10,039 is itching to craft his own customized tyranny. 85 00:05:10,122 --> 00:05:12,207 [Jean] By the 1950s, 86 00:05:12,291 --> 00:05:17,296 Kim Il Sung was starting to chafe under Soviet influence 87 00:05:17,379 --> 00:05:21,842 and was starting to see that he was going to need to make a break. 88 00:05:21,925 --> 00:05:23,385 [narrator] And so he does 89 00:05:23,469 --> 00:05:27,890 by creating a brand new national ideology called Juche. 90 00:05:30,309 --> 00:05:34,855 Juche. It can be translated very loosely into "self-reliance." 91 00:05:34,938 --> 00:05:39,360 He wanted to say, basically, "We will do everything by ourselves." 92 00:05:40,402 --> 00:05:43,113 [Jean] Koreans have been facing domination 93 00:05:43,197 --> 00:05:46,116 from outside forces for centuries. 94 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:47,618 The Chinese, the Japanese. 95 00:05:47,701 --> 00:05:50,245 Juche was created 96 00:05:50,329 --> 00:05:53,624 to force them to think about fending for themselves 97 00:05:53,707 --> 00:05:57,503 and to turn that isolationism into a source of pride. 98 00:05:58,087 --> 00:06:01,799 [narrator] According to Juche principles, cooperating with other nations 99 00:06:01,882 --> 00:06:03,759 would destroy North Korea's sovereignty, 100 00:06:03,842 --> 00:06:06,470 and the only way for the nation to survive 101 00:06:06,553 --> 00:06:09,640 is to unite under the Great Leader, Kim Il Sung. 102 00:06:10,140 --> 00:06:13,227 Juche has been used, very strategically, 103 00:06:13,310 --> 00:06:15,729 as a way to justify and explain 104 00:06:15,813 --> 00:06:17,356 why they're so isolated. 105 00:06:18,023 --> 00:06:23,112 The isolation is an effective tool to prevent popular discontent 106 00:06:23,195 --> 00:06:25,823 about the state of the country. 107 00:06:25,906 --> 00:06:29,743 So to open up North Korea to this kind of flow of information, 108 00:06:29,827 --> 00:06:31,703 I think would be quite devastating. 109 00:06:32,538 --> 00:06:34,790 [narrator] See? Smart move. 110 00:06:34,873 --> 00:06:39,336 Isolating your nation is a strong step towards a long and healthy tyranny. 111 00:06:39,420 --> 00:06:43,674 But we're aiming higher, to build the regime without end. 112 00:06:44,258 --> 00:06:47,553 To do that, you're going to need a good succession plan, 113 00:06:47,636 --> 00:06:49,972 and this one is playbook approved. 114 00:06:55,644 --> 00:06:58,063 Dynastic rule is great for leaders 115 00:06:58,147 --> 00:07:01,024 and it's also great for the coalition, 116 00:07:01,108 --> 00:07:03,068 the supporters around the leader. 117 00:07:03,152 --> 00:07:05,195 It's about continuity. 118 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:08,907 The coalition have reasons to stay more loyal because we might say 119 00:07:08,991 --> 00:07:11,034 "The apple doesn't drop far from the tree." 120 00:07:11,118 --> 00:07:15,330 [narrator] But for modern-day tyrants, building a family dynasty is a tough trick 121 00:07:15,414 --> 00:07:17,416 which few have been able to pull off. 122 00:07:18,959 --> 00:07:22,463 Not Saddam with his boys or Gaddafi. 123 00:07:22,546 --> 00:07:26,925 How about Stalin's kids? Vasily, Svetlana, Yakov, or Artyom? 124 00:07:27,009 --> 00:07:29,178 Ever heard of them? Me neither. 125 00:07:29,261 --> 00:07:30,429 [buzzer honks] 126 00:07:31,430 --> 00:07:33,307 As North Korean alpha leader, 127 00:07:33,390 --> 00:07:36,852 Kim Il Sung's cult of personality continues to grow. 128 00:07:37,603 --> 00:07:41,315 He becomes determined that his regime will be the exception. 129 00:07:41,398 --> 00:07:43,609 He had this idea of replicating 130 00:07:43,692 --> 00:07:47,613 somewhat of a modern-day monarchy for the rule of North Korea. 131 00:07:47,696 --> 00:07:51,575 [narrator] But even monarchies can get messy when it comes to succession. 132 00:07:51,658 --> 00:07:54,745 With royal families in Korean history, 133 00:07:54,828 --> 00:07:58,290 you often had a king with multiple consorts 134 00:07:58,373 --> 00:08:00,459 and multiple potential heirs, 135 00:08:00,542 --> 00:08:02,794 and that was true with Kim Il Sung as well. 136 00:08:02,878 --> 00:08:06,089 [narrator] That leaves the leader with a very important decision. 137 00:08:06,632 --> 00:08:08,091 Which kid to choose. 138 00:08:08,175 --> 00:08:10,928 [Jean] He had a son, Kim Pyong Il, 139 00:08:11,011 --> 00:08:14,223 who was seen as a potential heir. 140 00:08:14,306 --> 00:08:16,099 [Paul] He was the favorite son. 141 00:08:16,183 --> 00:08:18,227 He was the son of Kim Il Sung's second wife, 142 00:08:18,310 --> 00:08:21,230 who was in greater favor than his first wife, who had passed away. 143 00:08:21,313 --> 00:08:25,442 [narrator] While firstborn son, Kim Jong Il is left out in the cold. 144 00:08:26,109 --> 00:08:30,072 But North Korea's future ruler number two has big plans. 145 00:08:30,155 --> 00:08:33,534 [Paul] If you're born into that family, you sort of develop from a very young age 146 00:08:33,617 --> 00:08:37,412 a sense of "kill or be killed," "dog-eat-dog" world. 147 00:08:37,496 --> 00:08:40,624 You either have all the power, or you have none, 148 00:08:40,707 --> 00:08:42,626 and there's nothing in between. 149 00:08:42,709 --> 00:08:46,797 [narrator] To prove his claim, Kim Jong Il would need to find the right moment 150 00:08:46,880 --> 00:08:48,090 and make it count. 151 00:08:49,800 --> 00:08:53,220 In the wake of the latest purge of unreliable officials, 152 00:08:53,303 --> 00:08:57,015 the big boss, Kim Il Sung, has several openings to fill, 153 00:08:58,517 --> 00:09:00,727 including in the Propaganda Ministry, 154 00:09:00,811 --> 00:09:03,897 charged with North Korea's most important pursuit. 155 00:09:03,981 --> 00:09:05,857 Glorifying the Great Leader. 156 00:09:06,483 --> 00:09:10,028 Kim Il Sung pays a visit to North Korea's film studio 157 00:09:10,112 --> 00:09:13,532 with his 25-year-old son, Kim Jong Il, by his side. 158 00:09:14,157 --> 00:09:18,453 He berates the studio workers for their ineffective propaganda films, 159 00:09:19,037 --> 00:09:21,248 which are betraying their nation. 160 00:09:21,331 --> 00:09:23,667 He dares them to have the courage 161 00:09:23,750 --> 00:09:28,672 to overhaul the studio and restore it back to glory. 162 00:09:29,631 --> 00:09:31,341 When no one responds, 163 00:09:32,175 --> 00:09:35,554 Kim Jong Il volunteers to take up his father's challenge. 164 00:09:37,180 --> 00:09:40,225 [Paul] This is one of the vital incidents 165 00:09:40,309 --> 00:09:44,896 of Kim Jong Il's rise that, as a good, dutiful son, 166 00:09:45,522 --> 00:09:47,107 when there was a moment of need, 167 00:09:47,190 --> 00:09:49,735 he volunteered, boldly, even though he was young. 168 00:09:50,944 --> 00:09:54,573 [narrator] Kim Jong Il is immediately named Cultural Arts Director 169 00:09:54,656 --> 00:09:57,284 and begins producing the film Sea of Blood, 170 00:09:57,367 --> 00:10:00,662 an epic tale of North Korean self-reliance. 171 00:10:00,746 --> 00:10:05,125 In it, a 1930s family suffers under Japanese occupation 172 00:10:05,208 --> 00:10:07,127 before heroically fighting back, 173 00:10:07,210 --> 00:10:11,214 based on a story by Kim Il Sung himself. 174 00:10:13,634 --> 00:10:16,887 It premieres to rave reviews. 175 00:10:16,970 --> 00:10:18,347 Within two years, 176 00:10:18,430 --> 00:10:22,059 Kim Jong Il becomes head of the entire Propaganda Ministry, 177 00:10:22,142 --> 00:10:26,438 setting him off on his course, from lost boy to heir apparent. 178 00:10:27,773 --> 00:10:32,069 [Paul] By 1974, even though he won't take power for the next 20 years, 179 00:10:32,152 --> 00:10:35,113 it is communicated to the party that, yeah, this is the guy. 180 00:10:35,197 --> 00:10:37,908 [male voice] Kim Jong Il's royalty is unfailing. 181 00:10:37,991 --> 00:10:40,994 In short, he's the incarnation of royalty. 182 00:10:42,162 --> 00:10:45,123 [narrator] In securing his rule and naming a successor, 183 00:10:45,207 --> 00:10:49,002 Kim Il Sung did his part to position the dynasty for success. 184 00:10:50,253 --> 00:10:53,298 But before the understudy can take the stage, 185 00:10:53,382 --> 00:10:55,717 Kim Jong Il will need to chart his own course 186 00:10:55,801 --> 00:10:57,302 to grow the family business. 187 00:10:57,386 --> 00:11:00,097 And when you don't have the help you need, 188 00:11:00,180 --> 00:11:03,684 sometimes you just need to take matters into your own hands. 189 00:11:09,398 --> 00:11:12,192 [Paul] Kim Jong Il developed kidnapping 190 00:11:12,275 --> 00:11:16,405 as a state tool that he wasn't shy about using personally 191 00:11:16,488 --> 00:11:19,783 if he felt he wanted someone, for whatever reason, in the country. 192 00:11:20,409 --> 00:11:23,537 [Jean] Kim Jong Il wanted to train his spies to speak Japanese, 193 00:11:23,620 --> 00:11:25,789 so he kidnapped Japanese citizens. 194 00:11:25,872 --> 00:11:29,584 In some cases, they were just plucked off the beach 195 00:11:30,377 --> 00:11:31,503 and disappeared. 196 00:11:31,586 --> 00:11:33,338 And for years, 197 00:11:33,422 --> 00:11:37,134 their families had no idea that they were in North Korea. 198 00:11:38,135 --> 00:11:41,638 [narrator] But for Kim Jong Il, rising star of North Korean cinema, 199 00:11:41,722 --> 00:11:45,100 his nation had a staffing issue that was even more troubling. 200 00:11:45,183 --> 00:11:49,396 In the 1970s, Kim Jong Il had made films that were successful in North Korea, 201 00:11:49,479 --> 00:11:52,190 but were still kind of made fun of around the world. 202 00:11:52,274 --> 00:11:54,276 [speaking Korean] 203 00:11:56,737 --> 00:12:00,657 [Paul] Kim Jong Il recognized that every form of power 204 00:12:00,741 --> 00:12:04,453 is based on stories, and his love for storytelling and for narrative 205 00:12:04,911 --> 00:12:07,789 could be put to use to try and perpetuate the regime. 206 00:12:09,958 --> 00:12:12,043 [narrator] Looking to crack Hollywood's secrets, 207 00:12:12,127 --> 00:12:14,671 Kim watches films day and night. 208 00:12:14,755 --> 00:12:17,632 [Paul] He'd created this huge worldwide bootleg system 209 00:12:17,716 --> 00:12:21,762 to provide him with every film that came out subtitled and printed 210 00:12:21,845 --> 00:12:23,430 and ready for him to watch. 211 00:12:23,513 --> 00:12:25,307 And he would keep all of these films 212 00:12:25,390 --> 00:12:27,684 in a building in Pyongyang no one could access. 213 00:12:27,768 --> 00:12:31,897 [narrator] But Kim Jong Il quickly realizes his biggest problem. 214 00:12:33,482 --> 00:12:36,276 To make A movies, you need A-list talent. 215 00:12:37,235 --> 00:12:39,821 So what's this tactic about again? 216 00:12:39,905 --> 00:12:41,573 Right, kidnapping. 217 00:12:43,825 --> 00:12:45,994 So now it's a question about who to grab. 218 00:12:47,078 --> 00:12:49,998 [Jean] Kim Jong Il staged the kidnapping 219 00:12:50,081 --> 00:12:52,584 of one of South Korea's most beloved actresses, 220 00:12:52,667 --> 00:12:54,961 Choi Eun-hee, in Hong Kong, 221 00:12:55,545 --> 00:13:01,009 and somehow lured her ex-husband, the revered film director, Shin Sang-ok, 222 00:13:01,092 --> 00:13:04,429 to look for her, and they entrapped him as well. 223 00:13:05,555 --> 00:13:08,183 [Paul] He keeps them imprisoned without seeing one another 224 00:13:08,266 --> 00:13:12,687 for… five to six years until their resolve is essentially broken. 225 00:13:13,688 --> 00:13:16,566 And then he brings them back together. He announces publicly 226 00:13:16,650 --> 00:13:20,737 that they've happily joined the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 227 00:13:21,446 --> 00:13:25,867 [narrator] Over the next three years, Shin and Choi produce 17 films 228 00:13:25,951 --> 00:13:28,912 under Kim Jong Il's watchful eye. 229 00:13:29,704 --> 00:13:35,252 He basically forced them to create a film industry, um, in North Korea. 230 00:13:35,335 --> 00:13:36,920 [roaring] 231 00:13:37,003 --> 00:13:38,213 [crowd clamoring] 232 00:13:38,296 --> 00:13:39,297 [yells] 233 00:13:41,091 --> 00:13:44,886 Shin's films have to fit Kim's propaganda purposes, 234 00:13:45,720 --> 00:13:48,598 but he's also allowed to break the rules a little bit, 235 00:13:49,808 --> 00:13:52,227 and it actually enhances Kim's power, 236 00:13:52,310 --> 00:13:55,897 because North Koreans now have a reason to see these films. 237 00:13:55,981 --> 00:13:58,066 They are unlike anything else they've seen in 40 years, 238 00:13:58,149 --> 00:14:02,320 but that still serve the purpose of developing the narrative of the nation. 239 00:14:02,404 --> 00:14:06,116 [narrator] But Kim Jong Il, still just the heir apparent, has a problem. 240 00:14:06,199 --> 00:14:10,036 That national narrative is currently based around his father, 241 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:14,499 the eternal divine and still living leader, Kim Il Sung. 242 00:14:17,002 --> 00:14:18,086 Quite a challenge. 243 00:14:18,169 --> 00:14:21,006 How do you make your case to succeed a god? 244 00:14:26,469 --> 00:14:28,513 Pity, poor Kim Jong Il. 245 00:14:28,597 --> 00:14:32,517 He's doing such a great job elevating his father's cult of personality, 246 00:14:32,601 --> 00:14:35,103 it's leaving him little time to develop his own. 247 00:14:35,186 --> 00:14:36,438 [machine gun fires] 248 00:14:37,314 --> 00:14:41,818 Kim Jong Il wasn't the gregarious, charismatic, outgoing, people-person 249 00:14:41,902 --> 00:14:46,239 that his father was. He was very behind the scenes. 250 00:14:46,907 --> 00:14:49,451 Kim Jong Il needed to build a narrative for North Korea 251 00:14:49,534 --> 00:14:53,038 past its first leader. That would give him legitimacy. 252 00:14:53,121 --> 00:14:54,122 [machine gun firing] 253 00:14:54,205 --> 00:14:58,877 [narrator] And that plan begins here, at North Korea's most sacred site, 254 00:14:58,960 --> 00:15:00,503 Mount Paektu. 255 00:15:01,171 --> 00:15:05,050 Legend has it, this is where Korean civilization began 256 00:15:05,133 --> 00:15:08,094 with the birth of the God-king, Dangun. 257 00:15:09,137 --> 00:15:10,263 [Jean] For the Kims, 258 00:15:10,931 --> 00:15:15,518 so much of their family lore is built around Mount Paektu. 259 00:15:16,227 --> 00:15:18,813 [narrator] According to Kim Il Sung's official bio, 260 00:15:18,897 --> 00:15:20,774 before his nation achieved independence, 261 00:15:20,857 --> 00:15:25,320 his forces battled the Japanese from a base camp on Paektu's slopes, 262 00:15:25,403 --> 00:15:29,115 while most experts place it some 200 miles away in Manchuria. 263 00:15:30,408 --> 00:15:32,661 To strengthen his case as heir to the throne, 264 00:15:32,744 --> 00:15:36,081 Kim Jong Il adds himself to the family myth. 265 00:15:36,164 --> 00:15:39,751 Kim Jong Il was born in 1941 in Russia, 266 00:15:40,251 --> 00:15:43,088 but he couldn't have been born there. He had to be a son of the country, 267 00:15:43,171 --> 00:15:46,883 so now the story was written that he was born on Mount Paektu. 268 00:15:47,801 --> 00:15:49,302 [narrator] In the official account 269 00:15:49,386 --> 00:15:52,681 spread through the media, books, songs and taught in schools, 270 00:15:52,764 --> 00:15:56,351 Kim Jong Il's birth was foretold by a swallow, 271 00:15:56,434 --> 00:15:58,186 -who descended from Heaven. -[swallow crying] 272 00:15:58,269 --> 00:16:02,899 The winter skies parted to reveal the brightest double rainbow ever seen. 273 00:16:02,983 --> 00:16:05,110 A new star appeared in the sky. 274 00:16:05,777 --> 00:16:08,738 Kim Il Sung's soldiers were so moved 275 00:16:08,822 --> 00:16:11,241 that they burst into joyful song. 276 00:16:11,324 --> 00:16:13,284 [vocalizing] 277 00:16:13,368 --> 00:16:14,661 [narrator] But why stop there? 278 00:16:15,161 --> 00:16:17,080 [Paul] As Kim Jong Il rose to power, 279 00:16:17,163 --> 00:16:21,042 he would have people rewrite his narrative of his life as it went. 280 00:16:21,126 --> 00:16:25,296 It was very important that he seemed to have superhuman powers. 281 00:16:25,380 --> 00:16:28,133 So progressively, these stories become crazier and crazier. 282 00:16:28,717 --> 00:16:31,302 [narrator] The North Korean government begins issuing press releases 283 00:16:31,386 --> 00:16:35,890 sharing some important "facts" about the rising leader. 284 00:16:37,851 --> 00:16:40,020 Like that he learned to walk at three weeks old 285 00:16:40,103 --> 00:16:41,604 and speak at eight weeks. 286 00:16:44,107 --> 00:16:46,109 That he can control the weather. 287 00:16:46,985 --> 00:16:50,321 Ingeniously authored 1500 books. 288 00:16:50,405 --> 00:16:52,907 That the first time he played golf, 289 00:16:52,991 --> 00:16:55,243 -he made 11 holes in one. -[crowd cheering] 290 00:16:57,037 --> 00:16:59,539 He's such a perfect physiological specimen 291 00:16:59,622 --> 00:17:02,083 that he doesn't produce any form of human waste, 292 00:17:02,167 --> 00:17:04,210 so he has no need for a toilet. 293 00:17:04,294 --> 00:17:06,004 -[toilet gurgling] -[snaps fingers] 294 00:17:06,087 --> 00:17:10,425 And in the final gift to humankind, he also invented the hamburger. 295 00:17:11,051 --> 00:17:15,847 Laugh if you want, but with the playbook, there's always a method to the madness. 296 00:17:15,930 --> 00:17:19,684 [Jean] That mythology is designed to enforce the idea 297 00:17:19,768 --> 00:17:22,854 that Kim Jong Il has a divine right to rule. 298 00:17:22,937 --> 00:17:24,230 [cheering] 299 00:17:24,314 --> 00:17:26,608 [Jeong-Ho] If you think of it from a logical perspective, 300 00:17:26,691 --> 00:17:29,652 it doesn't really make any sense, but for a North Korean, 301 00:17:29,736 --> 00:17:32,864 um, it's not a question of logic. Uh, really it's a question of faith. 302 00:17:33,907 --> 00:17:36,159 [narrator] With eternal leader Kim Il Sung ailing 303 00:17:36,242 --> 00:17:39,245 and Kim Jong Il nearing his date with destiny, 304 00:17:39,329 --> 00:17:41,748 that faith is about to be tested. 305 00:17:43,833 --> 00:17:45,126 [machine gun fires] 306 00:17:45,210 --> 00:17:48,671 The 1990s was a kind of a combination of bad luck. 307 00:17:48,755 --> 00:17:52,050 Bad crops, mismanagement, so it's basically the perfect storm 308 00:17:52,133 --> 00:17:54,886 that created this, uh, collapse of the system 309 00:17:54,969 --> 00:17:57,180 that led to widespread famine. 310 00:17:57,263 --> 00:17:58,848 [narrator] That's the last thing you need 311 00:17:58,932 --> 00:18:01,309 when you're racing to solidify your dynasty. 312 00:18:01,851 --> 00:18:04,187 But what separates tyranny's legends from losers 313 00:18:04,270 --> 00:18:06,940 is they don't let problems bring them down. 314 00:18:12,112 --> 00:18:16,533 When you're looking to rule forever, hunger can have its advantages. 315 00:18:17,784 --> 00:18:21,371 [Alastair] Poor, hungry, isolated people are no threat to you. 316 00:18:21,454 --> 00:18:24,999 Starving people aren't going to give food to rebels to fight the government. 317 00:18:25,083 --> 00:18:26,709 They're too weak to fight back. 318 00:18:26,793 --> 00:18:30,171 It's a sad reality, but starving people works. 319 00:18:30,588 --> 00:18:33,424 [narrator] Like it or not, the results speak for themselves. 320 00:18:33,508 --> 00:18:36,553 Stalin took advantage of a deadly famine in the Ukraine 321 00:18:36,636 --> 00:18:41,266 to crush any thoughts of independence and help keep the Soviet Union intact, 322 00:18:41,683 --> 00:18:43,893 while tens of millions dead in China 323 00:18:43,977 --> 00:18:46,813 as a result of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward 324 00:18:46,896 --> 00:18:49,607 did little to weaken his hold over the nation. 325 00:18:50,191 --> 00:18:53,403 And Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam 326 00:18:53,486 --> 00:18:57,282 weathered his country's devastating famine in the early 1980s, 327 00:18:57,365 --> 00:18:59,367 ruling for another eight years. 328 00:19:01,244 --> 00:19:04,581 [Jean] The Kims, they've never been able to feed their own people 329 00:19:04,664 --> 00:19:07,584 despite the mythology that they had to maintain 330 00:19:07,667 --> 00:19:09,085 that they could do it on their own. 331 00:19:09,961 --> 00:19:13,631 North Korea had relied for so many decades 332 00:19:13,715 --> 00:19:18,803 on the Soviet umbrella in terms of where they were getting supplies. 333 00:19:18,887 --> 00:19:21,764 [narrator] But in the early '90s, the Soviet Union falls apart, 334 00:19:21,848 --> 00:19:24,726 and North Korea's economy quickly follows suit. 335 00:19:24,809 --> 00:19:26,269 [Jean] That just started 336 00:19:26,352 --> 00:19:30,982 this cascading effect of tragedy after tragedy. 337 00:19:31,065 --> 00:19:35,111 Hundreds of thousands of North Koreans starved to death, 338 00:19:35,195 --> 00:19:37,822 and those are conservative estimates. It's probably a lot higher. 339 00:19:38,656 --> 00:19:41,993 I would identify that period as the lowest of lows. 340 00:19:43,161 --> 00:19:45,997 [narrator] So naturally, this is the exact moment 341 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:49,542 when North Korea's seemingly immortal first leader, 342 00:19:49,626 --> 00:19:52,921 Kim Il Sung, finally decides to check out. 343 00:19:53,421 --> 00:19:56,549 [speaking Korean] 344 00:19:56,633 --> 00:20:01,095 The death of Kim Il Sung in 1994, uh, for the majority of North Koreans, 345 00:20:01,179 --> 00:20:04,057 uh, was the most devastating event. 346 00:20:04,140 --> 00:20:06,768 You see, you know, people in mourning. 347 00:20:06,851 --> 00:20:11,689 So it's not just mourning. It's almost like the Messiah had died. 348 00:20:12,523 --> 00:20:16,736 [narrator] And even worse, Kim Jong Il is seeing his dream of a perpetual dynasty 349 00:20:16,819 --> 00:20:18,196 hanging by a thread. 350 00:20:18,947 --> 00:20:22,909 [Suki] How do you survive politically after millions of citizens died, 351 00:20:22,992 --> 00:20:24,452 and there's nothing to eat? 352 00:20:25,745 --> 00:20:27,622 Kim Jong Il goes back to storytelling. 353 00:20:27,705 --> 00:20:31,751 He needed to perpetuate this idea 354 00:20:31,834 --> 00:20:35,129 that the country was under threat from aggression from the United States. 355 00:20:35,213 --> 00:20:37,924 And so it was tapping back into the Korean War 356 00:20:38,007 --> 00:20:40,426 and bringing it into the present. 357 00:20:40,510 --> 00:20:43,680 [narrator] And a country at war needs to stick together. 358 00:20:43,763 --> 00:20:47,642 [Paul] He starts propaganda campaigns whereby people are told 359 00:20:47,725 --> 00:20:50,228 they should choose to eat only one or two meals a day 360 00:20:50,311 --> 00:20:53,064 to celebrate Kim Il Sung and the guerrilla fighters. 361 00:20:54,315 --> 00:20:57,277 [narrator] Inspiring sacrifice is all part of the job. 362 00:20:57,944 --> 00:21:01,155 What you do in your free time is your own business. 363 00:21:01,239 --> 00:21:05,034 [Jean] Kim Jong Il had excessive, expensive tastes. 364 00:21:05,118 --> 00:21:08,496 He spent, I believe, more than $800,000 a year 365 00:21:08,579 --> 00:21:09,789 just on cognac. 366 00:21:09,872 --> 00:21:14,252 So while his countrymen are allegedly selling baby flesh in markets, 367 00:21:14,335 --> 00:21:17,046 Kim Jong Il's got multiple villas and private chefs, 368 00:21:17,130 --> 00:21:20,174 and he's importing liquor by the tons. 369 00:21:20,258 --> 00:21:23,886 He's living the most luxurious life possible 370 00:21:23,970 --> 00:21:26,389 for him and a very small group of people. 371 00:21:27,974 --> 00:21:30,143 While letting his countrymen die. 372 00:21:31,227 --> 00:21:36,274 [narrator] Yet, despite the Dear Leader's skill in making hunger work for him, 373 00:21:36,357 --> 00:21:40,069 the Kim family's eternal regime is still far from secure. 374 00:21:40,153 --> 00:21:43,656 [Paul] Everybody was predicting that Kim Jong Il was inexperienced, 375 00:21:43,740 --> 00:21:46,117 less charismatic, less godly than his father 376 00:21:46,200 --> 00:21:48,244 and that sooner or later 377 00:21:48,328 --> 00:21:50,997 he would have to fail, the regime would have to fail. 378 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,042 [narrator] But Kim Jong Il is about to prove the doubters wrong 379 00:21:54,125 --> 00:21:58,212 by unleashing the playbook's final and most devastating tactic 380 00:21:58,296 --> 00:22:02,550 that can turn a starving nation into an unstoppable force. 381 00:22:07,388 --> 00:22:10,850 A sad truth of becoming a tyrant is that chances are 382 00:22:10,933 --> 00:22:14,020 you'll someday have a run-in with meddling foreigners 383 00:22:14,103 --> 00:22:17,565 who think the world would be better off without you. 384 00:22:17,648 --> 00:22:20,193 We've lost a lot of Hall of Famers this way. 385 00:22:21,110 --> 00:22:25,740 Like Saddam Hussein, deposed by a US-led invasion in 2003, 386 00:22:25,823 --> 00:22:29,660 captured by American forces, and executed three years later. 387 00:22:29,744 --> 00:22:34,499 Adolf Hitler's reign ended with the Allies encircling Berlin in 1945, 388 00:22:34,582 --> 00:22:38,127 leading the once-mighty Fuhrer to commit suicide in his bunker. 389 00:22:38,211 --> 00:22:40,588 And let's not forget Muammar Gaddafi, 390 00:22:40,671 --> 00:22:45,051 whose demise was sped along by a NATO bombing campaign in 2011. 391 00:22:46,886 --> 00:22:50,056 To avoid falling in their unfortunate footsteps, 392 00:22:50,139 --> 00:22:52,683 nothing but the ultimate deterrent will do. 393 00:22:54,185 --> 00:22:56,479 [choral music plays] 394 00:22:56,562 --> 00:23:00,191 The Kims call their nuclear weapons their "treasured sword." 395 00:23:00,274 --> 00:23:01,984 It will protect them. 396 00:23:02,068 --> 00:23:04,862 Nuclear weapons figure so heavily 397 00:23:04,946 --> 00:23:08,408 into the strategy of how to keep North Korea intact 398 00:23:08,491 --> 00:23:10,701 with the Kim family at the helm. 399 00:23:14,622 --> 00:23:18,709 [narrator] Okay, so how do you become a nuclear power? 400 00:23:18,793 --> 00:23:21,295 To start, you need world-class scientists, 401 00:23:21,379 --> 00:23:23,631 a few hundred pounds of uranium, 402 00:23:23,714 --> 00:23:27,635 a processing facility, and a boatload of cash. 403 00:23:27,718 --> 00:23:30,012 Seems simple enough? It's not. 404 00:23:30,638 --> 00:23:33,015 To make nuclear weapons, you need to run your uranium 405 00:23:33,099 --> 00:23:35,643 through thousands of specialized centrifuges 406 00:23:35,726 --> 00:23:39,230 that are tightly controlled for obvious reasons. 407 00:23:39,313 --> 00:23:43,359 The process takes months to complete and can be slowed by accidents. 408 00:23:44,569 --> 00:23:45,903 Or sabotage. 409 00:23:47,488 --> 00:23:49,782 Then you need to figure out delivery. 410 00:23:49,866 --> 00:23:52,368 You could try dropping them from airplanes, 411 00:23:52,452 --> 00:23:54,245 firing short-range missiles, 412 00:23:54,328 --> 00:23:57,707 using submarines, or the superpower weapon of choice, 413 00:23:57,790 --> 00:24:00,376 intercontinental ballistic missiles. 414 00:24:01,335 --> 00:24:02,962 And to be sure your weapon works, 415 00:24:03,045 --> 00:24:05,256 you're going to have to conduct some tests, 416 00:24:05,339 --> 00:24:07,884 which the world will surely notice 417 00:24:07,967 --> 00:24:11,846 and do everything they can to stop you before your program is operational. 418 00:24:12,763 --> 00:24:14,015 The race is on. 419 00:24:15,183 --> 00:24:16,851 Like everything in North Korea, 420 00:24:16,934 --> 00:24:19,896 the Kims' nuclear pursuits are a family affair. 421 00:24:19,979 --> 00:24:22,023 [Jeong-Ho] Before Kim Il Sung died, 422 00:24:22,106 --> 00:24:25,693 he in fact began to stockpile nuclear materials. 423 00:24:25,776 --> 00:24:27,236 [narrator] That's step one. 424 00:24:27,320 --> 00:24:30,198 But after nearly four decades of research and development, 425 00:24:30,281 --> 00:24:32,700 the program never fully got off the ground. 426 00:24:32,783 --> 00:24:34,869 [Jeong-Ho] When he died, there was no nuclear weapons, 427 00:24:34,952 --> 00:24:38,122 so Kim Jong Il, um, essentially inherits 428 00:24:38,206 --> 00:24:40,917 the nuclear program his father started. 429 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,336 [narrator] Kim Jong Il's determined to make 430 00:24:43,419 --> 00:24:45,546 his father's nuclear dreams come true. 431 00:24:46,214 --> 00:24:48,966 But with North Korea's economy in crisis, 432 00:24:49,050 --> 00:24:52,428 he doesn't exactly have boatloads of cash to spare. 433 00:24:52,512 --> 00:24:55,932 So he's going to have to get entrepreneurial. 434 00:24:56,015 --> 00:24:59,560 [Jeong-Ho] So North Korea was able to finance this nuclear program 435 00:24:59,644 --> 00:25:02,063 through illicit trade, counterfeit products, 436 00:25:02,146 --> 00:25:04,857 drugs, smuggling, money laundering. 437 00:25:04,941 --> 00:25:09,403 So whatever illegal methods was available there, North Korea has done it. 438 00:25:10,071 --> 00:25:14,116 [narrator] In 2009, Kim Jong Il achieves step number two. 439 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:18,204 North Korea conducts a successful underground nuclear test 440 00:25:18,746 --> 00:25:23,793 and also fires a series of missiles that land in the waters near Japan. 441 00:25:23,876 --> 00:25:26,587 But the family's great enemy in the west, America, 442 00:25:26,671 --> 00:25:29,090 remains frustratingly out of reach. 443 00:25:30,591 --> 00:25:32,760 [woman] We had spent, during the Clinton Administration, 444 00:25:32,843 --> 00:25:37,223 quite a lot of time trying to figure out what the North Koreans were doing. 445 00:25:37,306 --> 00:25:39,850 Kim Dae-Jung, who was the president of South Korea, 446 00:25:39,934 --> 00:25:42,270 said to me, "This man is not crazy." 447 00:25:42,353 --> 00:25:46,482 "He's very smart, and you need to see him from that perspective." 448 00:25:47,525 --> 00:25:51,070 [Jeong-Ho] But if we look at exactly what Kim Jong Il was thinking, 449 00:25:51,153 --> 00:25:54,115 he had to pursue nuclear weapons 450 00:25:54,198 --> 00:25:57,159 as a way of safeguarding, um, the, uh, country, 451 00:25:57,243 --> 00:26:01,455 and that event actually went on until 2011 when he-- when he died. 452 00:26:04,625 --> 00:26:07,628 [reporter] Under an intense snowstorm, thousands of North Koreans 453 00:26:07,712 --> 00:26:09,839 give their last farewell to Kim Jong Il. 454 00:26:09,922 --> 00:26:13,509 For the funeral procession carried the Dear Leader's coffin. 455 00:26:14,218 --> 00:26:17,096 [narrator] But the great thing about an eternal regime, 456 00:26:17,179 --> 00:26:19,348 death is a mere speed bump. 457 00:26:21,183 --> 00:26:25,646 Time for Kim Jong Il's son, Kim Jong Un, to pick up the baton. 458 00:26:26,647 --> 00:26:28,441 When Kim Jong Un takes over, 459 00:26:29,442 --> 00:26:33,029 he actually accelerates the testing of nuclear weapons 460 00:26:33,112 --> 00:26:36,407 and the testing of intercontinental missile technologies. 461 00:26:37,783 --> 00:26:40,995 [narrator] And 64 years after the end of the Korean War, 462 00:26:41,579 --> 00:26:44,665 Kim Jong Un finally finishes the job. 463 00:26:45,541 --> 00:26:48,419 [Jeong-Ho] In 2017, they conducted their nuclear test. 464 00:26:48,502 --> 00:26:51,797 They claimed to be a hydrogen bomb capable of hitting the United States. 465 00:26:51,881 --> 00:26:54,258 [narrator] Grandpa would be so proud. 466 00:26:54,342 --> 00:26:58,596 The regime he set up to rule forever now has the ultimate safety net. 467 00:26:58,679 --> 00:27:00,640 North Korea is a nuclear power. 468 00:27:00,723 --> 00:27:04,435 That gives them the tools by which the Kim family 469 00:27:04,518 --> 00:27:07,897 can now continue to perpetuate their power, 470 00:27:07,980 --> 00:27:10,316 their authority, and succession in the future. 471 00:27:10,399 --> 00:27:12,735 This system, it exists on and on and on. 472 00:27:15,237 --> 00:27:18,949 That's maybe what's different about this dictatorship. 473 00:27:19,033 --> 00:27:20,534 It just, it won't die. 474 00:27:20,618 --> 00:27:23,788 "The Great Leader" dictatorship continued on. 475 00:27:23,871 --> 00:27:26,791 [narrator] There it is, as simple as that. 476 00:27:26,874 --> 00:27:28,501 With this playbook in hand, 477 00:27:28,584 --> 00:27:32,213 you can go from broke outcast to absolute ruler. 478 00:27:32,296 --> 00:27:37,927 Crush all rivals in your path, dominate your people's bodies and minds, 479 00:27:38,010 --> 00:27:40,721 create your perfect society, 480 00:27:40,805 --> 00:27:44,016 and with an assist from the ultimate weapon, rule forever. 481 00:27:44,809 --> 00:27:46,852 Come on, what's stopping you? 482 00:27:46,936 --> 00:27:49,146 What kind of person can be a tyrant? 483 00:27:52,566 --> 00:27:54,568 I'm going to give a very depressing answer. 484 00:27:56,696 --> 00:27:59,115 Anybody can be a tyrant. 485 00:28:04,286 --> 00:28:05,913 [narrator] Ready to take your shot? 486 00:28:05,996 --> 00:28:07,289 [blasting] 487 00:28:09,166 --> 00:28:11,168 [theme music playing]