A fake billionaire in North Korea
Jim Latrache-Qvortrup posed as a weapons dealer to expose a North Korean criminal network. He was working undercover for a film called "The Mole".
Jim was an unusual secret agent. He'd grown up poor in Denmark, and had gone on to become a drug dealer to the rich and famous in Copenhagen. After years in prison, he was reformed but bored. Then, a filmmaker called Mads Brügger approached him, and asked him to take part in a high-stakes sting in North Korea. Mads needed someone to pretend to be a dodgy billionaire investor interested in a sanctions-breaking weapons deal. It was a perilous mission, failure would mean prison or death.
The film Mads and Jim made is called The Mole.
Presenter: Emily Webb
Producer: Harry Graham
(Photo: Jim Latrache-Qvortrup. Credit: Nicoline Latrache-Qvortrup)
Last on
Broadcasts
- Wed 26 Oct 202211:06GMTBBC World Service
- Wed 26 Oct 202217:06GMTBBC World Service except East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa
- Wed 26 Oct 202221:06GMTBBC World Service East and Southern Africa & West and Central Africa only
- Thu 27 Oct 202202:06GMTBBC World Service
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