This April sees the 10th anniversary of the official handover of power to one of the world’s youngest and most enigmatic state leaders, presiding over a secretive, authoritarian regime with an uncompromising iron fist, while keeping the world guessing over his next military manoeuvres and ballistic missile ambitions.
Marking the anniversary, new to iwonder this Thursday April 12th, comes ‘Kim Jong Un: The Man Who Rules North Korea’, and the audacious exposé of two documentary makers as they travel undercover to reveal what life is really like behind North Korea’s iron curtain.
Posing as tourists, they travel to Pyongyang to experience life under Kim Jong Un’s autocracy. All over the city people are uniform, synchronised, smiling, but above all, subservient. At all times, North Korea remains a society under control.
From the museum of American atrocities to leaders’ statues in the main square, Kim Jong Un’s propaganda is omnipresent. In a local bookstore, the shelves are filled with his books; in addition to his duties as Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-un has apparently already taken the time to author a dozen books.
Thousands of miles away in Switzerland, interviews with people who knew Kim Jong Un before his rise to power include a man who remembers the teenaged Kim Jong Un whom he went to school with. There, he was registered under a false name, spoke excellent German, and liked Western pop culture. No one had any idea of his real identity, and few would have foreseen the man he was to become.
Also new to iwonder this April 12th comes ‘Bureau 39: Kim’s Cash Machine’, asking the question, how is it possible that North Korea, one of the poorest countries on earth, finances a nuclear weapons programme large enough to challenge the USA?’
The answer is Bureau 39, a secretive organisation nestled deep inside the government apparatus.
Its aim is to procure foreign exchange by any means possible to provide Kim Jong-un’s regime with money. Printing dollars, dealing drugs, smuggling arms, insurance fraud, human trafficking – nothing is too unscrupulous for North Korea’s money makers.
With unique access to insiders, the documentary reveals the most spectacular cases and breath-taking tricks of how North Korea has been circumventing UN sanctions to finance its nuclear arsenal for decades.
iwonder CEO, James Bridges, says of the films: “Over ten turbulent and unpredictable years, Kim Jong Un has already secured his place in history as one of the modern world’s most enigmatic and unconventional leaders. From nuclear sabre rattling to ruthless purges, no matter what your opinion of Kim Jong Un, he’s been impossible to ignore, with these companion documentaries providing as close a glimpse as we’re likely to get inside one of the world’s most secretive states.”
Viewers new to iwonder can watch ‘Kim Jong Un: The Man Who Rules North Korea’ and ‘Bureau 39: Kim’s Cash Machine’ for free by signing up to the 14-day free trial period, while also gaining access to 1,000+ other acclaimed documentary films and series. Priced at $6.99 monthly or $69.90 annually, viewers can enjoy iwonder on their mobile phones via iOS and Android apps, browsers at www.iwonder.com, with Apple TV, Android TV, Telstra TV, Amazon Prime Video Channels, Optus SubHub, or through Google Chromecast or Apple’s Airplay.
