North Korea - Shocking secrets of the world’s most recluse country.

0:01 Hello, bizarre story of friends. You've tuned into the Bizarre AF, a place where we talk about the strange, the unusual, the unknown, and all things bizarre AF. I'm Kevin. I'm going to be your host for today's episode. And as always, we ask that you please keep an open mind, keep a skeptical ear, but keep listening to those facts as we take you on our newest journey. North Korea, the shocking goings on within the world's most recluse country. Well, hello my bizarre story friends. Please let me welcome my Co Hostess with the mostess, Alicia. Hey girl. Hey boy, how?

0:51 that shift was like. A killer. It was horrible. Yeah, it was. This year it was horrible, horrible. Horrible. I think it gets worse and worse for me every year. Yeah, that's what we're talking about. There's like, there's like AI was telling you yesterday, there's like a little conspiracy theory that people are like, they actually took more time from us. They took more time from. Us, they, those people now, the shadow government and, you know, one world. I mean, come on, we're in the space where you listen to all of it. But yeah, so. So they're saying, yeah, that that it was more time. And everyone I've spoken to is like, yeah, that was like the time shift was really hard this year. It seemed like like it was like 2 hours. They need to stop the shenanigans. That makes 0.

1:35 Sense. Stop it. Yeah, just stop it. So what do you think of when I say North Korea? What comes to your mind? I think of dictatorship like people who are brainwashed and brainwashed into thinking like their leader is a God, like literally a God and like they are descended from gods. I think of children and and families who are starving and this idea of everything being equal and it's really just Gray and sex. Well, you've you've hit the nail on the head. We're going to talk about all of those things, but I bet you didn't know that the biggest driving force behind our money redesign was because of North.

2:21 Korea didn't know that at all. Didn't know that. They influenced us, huh? Oh yeah, and we're going to talk about that. OK, So have you ever heard Alicia of the Pink Lady? North Korean's Pink Lady? I was thinking the apple or like the grease pink ladies. No, no, no, this is North Korea's Pink Lady. No, I haven't. I would bet if you saw a news broadcast from North Korea, you would go, Oh, yeah, I've seen her before because she's the news anchor for North Korea's state television, and she is the most famous anchor there. When people would get wind that she was coming on the air, people would gather around the TV because they knew it was going to be some big announcement.

3:05 And what she wears is they call her that because she wears that traditional Korean dress. Yes, but it's hot pink. It's hot pink hot. Pink. It's like pink pink. And she wears this for special news announcements. And I know if you see it, you'll go. Yeah, I've seen her before. I've totally seen her before. Yeah. You have to look her out, Look her. Out so all this this happens because she delivers the special announcement in April 2009 and people are gathering around their television because they know the pink lady's come and she tells everyone that they have successfully launched a long range rocket to send satellites into space which then turns into another launch and another and another again and again and again and again and again.

3:46 Now, North Korea insists that these launches are peaceful, that they're just scientific explorations. But each time the missiles get closer and closer and closer to their sworn enemy, which is the United States of America, and the and more lethal, their potential effect of these missiles get right each time. So with every missile launch and nuclear test, North Korea begets more isolated because every time they do that, it's another round of sanctions, right, Especially financial ones. And so the country becomes more and more shut off from the world's economy.

4:28 It can't borrow money on the international financial market again, because of these these sanctions. And so North Korea gets in this loop. Missile tests equal sanctions, sanctions equals no income for the country. But then yet they go and spend money on missiles, which means more sanctions, which means less money. So how in the F are they building these missiles and these nuclear warheads? This becomes. Yeah, they have less like if they're able to, to do this, they need some kind of out outside income. Source They need yes, they need Mullah. And so they're total near total bankruptcy. So the US is going where in the F? How are they doing this?

5:10 And whenever you see official news footage in North Korea, it always seems to show like overflowing supermarkets and everyone prospering. Yet you and I both know that they're starving to death. Right, like they show really, really fit looking people and. Yes, happy and thriving. Happy, yeah, Happy to be there. A family unit that's really connected. And they're just. Yeah, they're just thriving under this, Yes. You know, fake facade. Yeah, yes, it's it's heartbreaking. And so then you go, well, why can't the country afford to feed them? They're building all these missiles and all this getting all this money, but they can't afford to feed their people.

5:51 Like what's happening to a thermal money? So as we like to do here at The Bizarre AF, we have to go back into history a little bit to kind of figure out where we are today. Yes, so. We're going to go back to April 15th of 1945 and they call it VJ Day and the Koreans call it Liberation Day, and that's the day that the Emperor emperor was announcing Japan's surrender. After 40 years of Japan's domination, Korea makes this start to kind of go back into independence, right? OK, from Japan. A few days after Japanese leave, the Soviets arrive in Korea, and then within a few weeks Americans arrive in Korea. Eventually, the Soviets and Americans agreed to divide Korea right at the 38th parallel, and so that's how we get North Korea and South Korea.

6:49 And the demilitarized. And that little gap between the two right on the 38th parallel. So the Soviets installed. This guy is a young guy, a Korean. He was a Marxist. He was named Kim Illinois Sung in Pyongyang, Pyongyang. And in 48, he founded the Democratic Public's, excuse me, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea or DPRK, otherwise known as North Korea. So Kim wants to, he really wants to reunify Korea. He wants South Korea, North Korea to become Korea again. Yeah, yeah. And with the permissions of the Soviets, he launches a surprise attack on Seoul in June of 1950, sending millions of Koreans fleeing South.

7:38 And this war for control of the Korean Peninsula goes on for three years. And then Chinese troops join the North Korean side, right? Because we know the Chinese are communists. And then the UN troops led by the United States joins the South side. OK. And so finally, after millions of deaths and bombings, the left Korea in complete ruins. They call it truce. South Korea rebuilds with the Western help. North Korea rebuilds with the Eastern Bloc and Soviet Union. In the early 90s, things start to fall apart from North Korea because we all know what happens to the Soviet Union collapses, meaning North Korea loses its biggest backer and all the connections that obviously come with having being friends with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, right? So Kim Illinois Sung dies of a heart attack in 94 and just as his Sung, Kim Jong Illinois comes to power, things get a lot worse.

8:38 They're hit by extreme weather. So floods, droughts, wipe out the farms, leads to complete devastation. Famine like the worst famine like in the. World. Oh my God. Like even beyond Ethiopia, I mean, it was like hardcore. They still don't know how many people died as a result of that famine, but they're people put it anywhere from the range of 2 million to higher. Oh my God. And with a population of 20 million people, that's one in 10 people. Yeah, that died from. That died from famine. God, Well, yeah. And then, like, and their leader dies and they're like, yes, all of this, like, yeah, yeah. Especially like, if I were looking at that, I'd be like, Oh my God, maybe he was protecting us or something, right. Like, like, you have to think something's up. You're like, there's something wrong with this. Exactly.

9:27 Yeah, exactly right. They lose faith, basically. Of course, yes, yeah, One in 10 people like, you know, you personally know so many people have died. And so there's all this speculation about whether Kim Jong Illinois is losing grip on power. Makes him realize I got to do something. Yeah, definitely. He needs to let. He needs to become this savior. Yeah, right. He needs to get people to believe that like you said before, that he is for lack of a better term, their God. Like without him, they will continue to head out. Right. I mean, what is like the one way that you can, well, you can unite people against a common enemy, or you can have people unite against something that is going to take care of them and save them.

10:13 Exactly. So instead of going, let's see, let's let's get people prosperous, let's help them build farms, let's get them fed. Let's create this economy where everyone can thrive. And then they know that I, they can depend on me. Yes. No, instead this little motherfucker goes, hmm, let's see, I'm going to build a shit ton of weapons, and then I'm going to provoke the United States because they are the worst people in the world, right, Because they broke up our country. And then I'm going to convince the people that without me and my military and my scary weapons, that they're all going to die. That's the one I'm going to do. Yeah. That's the choice I'm going to make. Like, let's be honest, OK, If we go back to like the 1940s, when you were telling me the North Korea guy wants to go and take over South Korea or wants to unify them, I'm like, did he just ask? Right.

11:04 Did we have a discussion about that? Did. We just like ask whether or not that would be OK or hey, it makes more sense for us to be 1 country. Why don't we just like look at what that looks like. We're an island. Yeah, let's just like you're out what that looks like. No, what did he do? He just like tries to bomb them. Yeah. Let me make the most the most sense. But but once again, this is something that comes up in our podcast often. It's like people want power. If he were to unify and just be like, let's try to work together to make this happen. Well, he might lose power and all of his cronies might lose power. And then same thing with them. It's like, you know, they're no better. Like they they would lose power and maybe they would have to like meet halfway and have, you know, partial communist, like, you know, government. I get it.

11:49 I totally get it. But also, it's like you guys are all fucking Koreans. Exactly. You're not North Korean, you're Korean. Exactly same language. It's not like Chinese, American or Russian and French. It's like you are literally the same people. You're the, you're the same, you speak the same language. You, you have the same, like, you know, culture. What the hell, people? Nuts. So 1998 at the height of complete famine is people starving due to their extreme lack of money. He builds this arsenal that he wants and it works. It's kind of like, you see, you're all starving in famine because of the United States. And these, these weapons that I'm firing, it's protecting us from the complete enemy that they're being, like you said before, brainwashed into believing or the total cause of how they Live Today. Yeah.

12:42 They know no different. They can. They cannot know any different. No, we, you know, we talk about it now like you have propaganda. It's called propaganda, right? Right, like we get propaganda. We get prop. We get propaganda. We. Get the benefit of being able to check it. Right, right. We also have, you know, Beyoncé's Internet that we can check, that we can check things on, like we can look at it and like say, oh, hey, is this actual? Is this factual? Right? You know, we have multiple sources that we can pull from. Of course, everything has an angle, but propaganda is propaganda. And for us to sit here and think that we are so different from North Koreans, Right? Right. We were just talking about a news story and you're like, oh, I haven't even heard of that one.

13:23 I'm like. Right, exactly because what I watched chose to not tell me. Yes, exactly, exactly. So although like it's very easy for us to like think that like N Koreans are different like their culture or whatever, it's like we are very similar and we're not so far removed from this world. Nope, exactly. But yeah, of course they're not going to know like that what he's saying is incorrect because they don't see it. They're. Only allowed to see it. Yeah, they have. State. They have state. Run television, no Internet. No Internet? Uh huh. My God. So. So again, all Kim has to do is have his little pink lady tell everyone how he just protected them from that last missile launch. They don't know any different.

14:04 Yeah. Right. Yeah, and like I said before, when Pink Lady talks, everyone listens like she is the voice of God, right, Right. She is the truth, The truth there, the mouthpiece, the prophet. Now Kim Jong Illinois, this ruthless little bastard dictator gets anything that he wants and no one is questioning his abilities anymore. They're like, oh, he's protecting us. And yes, he Messiah. Thank you. So in 78, before he becomes leader, Kim Jong Illinois was this is an example of him getting everything he wants. He's obsessed with movies. Like, he's like this movie fanatic, OK, And he was terribly unhappy with North Korea's movie, right? They it's not like they, it's not like they have Universal Studios or Sony that can just make these great pictures, right?

14:53 It's repressed North Korea. So he's like, these movies suck. I mean, yeah. Totally. They probably did. Totally. There's like closed caption or like, you know, imagine like your, your high school, like journalism, like news, like that's not, it's not cute. Yeah, your AV club. Yeah, your AV club, your AV club, who has like, limited resources and, you know, licensing, like there's no way you're going to watch him be like this really inspired me. This Oscar worthy? Yeah. So he decides he needs his favorite movie star and film director to help revamp the country's film industry. Well, one problem. The movie star and the director they were South Korean. Yeah, I was wondering right.

15:35 Korean. Yeah. Right. Well, yeah, they, like we said, they used to be 1 country. Yes, same people. Yeah. But now they're in the now. So we can't exactly, you know, call them up and say, hey, could you guys make me some movies? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, that just. Can you do me a favor? Can't possibly work. So what does he do instead? Oh, he kidnaps them. Shut up. Yeah, yeah, because that's the next. That's the next logical step. Instead of being like, like, let me yeah, let's work. Let's like do a contract, I'll pay you slightly. Like Nope, Nope. Not even a thought. I need to kidnap them. So North Korean agents snatched this actress Choi Unhi while she was in Hong Kong and then they lured her famous ex-husband who was the film director that he liked.

16:21 They lured him, Shin saying oh OC to Hong Kong, snatch him to Those two, spend the next eight-year in captivity in North Korea, forced to make the movies. Holy fuck, eight years, eight years of not seeing your family of one. Also, let's like be honest, not being able to be creative like it's a huge deal for for. Creative under duress. Under duress, stressed out, and then my God, like imagine that. What is that called when you start sympathizing with your? Stockholm Syndrome. Yeah, the Stockholm syndrome would be really strong. And you can't, you know, imagine that you are now being taken over by a dictator or like are kidnapped by a dictator and now living in their country. There is no, no, there is no like conversation. No like you listen to what they have to say because your life depends on it.

17:19 That's. Right. That's right. Yeah. Complete. Under complete duress, they managed to flee during a trip to Vienna, which we could probably cover in a whole nother episode of this show. Nuts. Vienna of all places. Of all places. Anyway, that's the kind of guy we're dealing with. Just some background. So yeah. He's a weirdo. So anyway, digress back to Something's not adding up to the US about the cost of all of this activity. Yeah, cut off from the world, yet the regime is somehow getting enough money to build these ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads. So now it's time for US classroom to meet a man named David Asher. And in 2003, he was a senior advisor working for the State Department's North Korea what they call Working Group.

18:07 And he himself is thinking something is odd with the whole money thing. So he becomes the head dude behind an effort that they had called the Illicit Activities Initiative. And this in a nutshell, it was a plan to stop North Korea's money flow by targeting any criminal activity that they could find. Ultimately, he oversaw 240US officials and members of the intelligence and police services in our country, as well as 15 ally partners, all to target Kim Jong Illinois. Now, as the State Department digs away, they uncover scheme after scheme after scheme, everything from A-Z. They were counterfeiting things from cigarettes to Viagra. They, this team personally witnessed about $3 billion in profits from this counter these counterfeiting things. Holy shit now they were doing what they wasn't cheap counterfeits like they were pains asking me making them legit not gross counterfeits like quality counterfeits. OK, So do you remember like last year when, when like there were or maybe it was like this earlier this year, but when Trump had like announced like the tariffs on China? Yes.

19:27 And then all these China like makers started saying, hey, by the way, you know how you like Prada, we sell these glasses. They may not have the Prada logo, but it's the same thing we make them. They just put on their own logos. Or whatever. I believe it. And they're like, by the way, if you want to contact me, contact me directly at this number and I I will give you the money. Yeah. So, you know, and they're legit. These are legit. They say counterfeit, but like some of them are actually. What they make, yes. Yeah. And so it seems like so North Korea is actually throwing out these like. I mean, I'm assuming that's where you, like when you're in Chinatown or whatever in New York City or, and you can go and get like a fake bag or like a fake. And like sometimes you're, you're brought into a in the back, yeah, in the back or like into a some weird alley. And like a woman like goes into her trunk and like pulls out bags.

20:22 You're like, yeah, I'll take that one, you know? So yeah, but it's like, like, is that how they're shipping these things out like they're legit? But like, how are they? How are they all going out undetected? Right. Well, they've, there's this whole network. Have you ever heard of The Sopranos? Yeah, OK, well, it's like a ma. They've got a network girl. They have, they have it all figured out. Yeah. Interesting. He's like a Kim's like a mob boss. Yeah. So like a soprano, like a Kim, like Pablo Escobar. The problem being though, is he is in charge of a nuclear arsenal. This is the difference. Right, right. He has like, missiles and like, weapons and weapons. So we're not gonna just like, turn our head at him selling counterfeit or like really good copies of things, right? There's a bigger problem here.

21:13 Exactly. And then I haven't even hit the thing that makes it even worse. We. Haven't talked about that yet, no. So in the summer of 2002, the FBI launches 2 investigations with really cool names called Operation Royal Charm and Operation Smoking Dragon. One was on the East Coast, one was on the West Coast and the United States. So a guy by name Bob Hammer was the lead investigator on Smoking Dragon Sting. He takes the assignment of of tracking the criminal syndicate that is smuggling knockoff cigarettes into the United States. So he comes up with a cover story that he was an older white man, had a warehouse in Los Angeles area and he would store contraband there, whatever it may be in his warehouse to help it get moved about the in the country that was his cover.

22:01 So over time he infiltrates the group bringing in all these counterfeit goods and it wasn't long before expanded beyond cigarettes gets stolen cars, clothing, weapons, fake pharmaceuticals, IE the Viagra. And the drugs didn't even stop there. As Bob earns these their trusts, they let him in on bigger and bigger and bigger schemes. Then one day, insert dramatic pause, they asked Bob to set up a crystal meth laboratory. They're like the friend that like you're clearly getting something out of friendship, but like they're kind of a little weird. They keep on, they keep on like pushing the envelope. They're like, hey, can I come over and borrow your, your shoes? Sure.

22:46 That's a little weird, but yeah, yeah. Can I borrow this? Can I have this? Hey, would you do me a favor, do this for me? And you're like, what the how did this go from zero to like 100 meth lab? Yeah, in North Korea, by the way, they want him to come North Korea, build this meth lab. And the idea is that he was going to produce 600 kilos of meth and he was told the Chinese would be the middle men to export the drugs. They would keep 1/3, Bob would keep 1/3, and North Korea would keep 1/3. So, yeah, go ahead. And so Bob would ensure that he was to ensure the successful production and exportation of the meth out of the country. And they wanted the front to be a detergent factory. So Bob goes to talk to the DEA and tells them what's going on. And they're like, well, that's interesting because the same equipment that you used to make detergent, you would use to make crystal meth.

23:42 So it's a perfect cover. It's the same thing. That they were doing, yeah. Yeah, they were strategic about it. Yeah, not, not dumb. What the heck? God girl, put your energy in something else. I know peace. So the US government can't exactly get involved with setting up a crystal meth lab. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It kind of looks bad on the US government. Yeah. So they pass up on this offer, but it makes them think like they've gone from counterventing cigarettes in Viagra to crystal meth. Like they it's like no holds barred. Like they are full on syndicate. Yeah. Can we talk about like the, the pipeline from like cigarettes to Viagra to then meth? How, how do you choose?

24:26 Like, how do you say, OK, we're gonna I have a good idea. This is going to make a lot of money. It's it's really upping the ante and seeing whether or not they can trust Bob. Right. Exactly. And the more they can trust Bob, the bigger the stakes, right? The bigger the money. Yeah, they're gonna, they're only going to talk about the fucking the cigarettes initially, right, Right. Exactly. Why would you be like hey do you mind if we create create like this? Hey, we know we just met you. Yeah, yeah. So we're trying to get this meth lab off the ground. Do you mind? So it makes them wonder, like, how many manufacturing plants does North Korea have? Like, what are they? What are all the things that they're producing? Yeah, yeah. What else are they? Doing What else are they doing?

25:07 So they end up finding one, and they find a paper manufacturing company that was making fake money. And we're not just talking, like, fake counterfeiting. We're not such like, you know, printing fake money. Like these forgeries were so good that experts in US currency could not tell the difference. That's wild. That's sick. That's insane. Insane. So they end up calling them super notes. That's what they call these particular counterfeiting bills or super notes or super dollars. So the US starts seeing these high quality fakes in 1990s, and over the years they pop up in more and more places, often in the hands of North Korean diplomats.

25:57 Makes sense? Right. They're gonna go travel to the United States. Hey, here's a few 100 stacks of hundreds. You're gonna go use this. We're gonna wash it. Yeah, basically this is tip everyone. They hold a door open for you. Here you go, tip them. Yes, or or pay for a dollar beverage with this $100 bill so you can get $99.00 of real money. As an example. Duh, Yes, of course, because they're trying to get more money. They want real. Money. So the smugglers are the diplomats? Yeah, yes. Well, they can't say no. Oh yeah, yeah, no, they're dying if they say no. If they say no, they're dead. Then their whole family's dead.

26:39 Or like tortured or? Whatever. Yeah, no choice. Yeah. Yeah. OK, so when they really start seeing the money wash up in the US, the FBI and put Bob and his team on the case. So through Bob's criminal connections, puts the word out that he wanted some of this forged money. Bob wants to get some of this counterfeit money. And as he expected, it happens. They bring him five samples of this money. He gives them to the Secret Service who are in charge of investigating counterfeiting in America. The first three, they said we're very good, nothing earth shattering. They could ultimately figure out a way to detect them as fakes. But the last two notes they they told Bob, if you hadn't told us these were fake, we would have told you they were absolutely. So through Hong Kong's, a Hong Kong shell company, they sourced the exact linen and cotton paper. This is North Korea.

27:40 The suppliers thought that they were fulfilling an order for high quality stationary, but instead they the products were ended up then being shipped to North Korea to use in their paper mill, which I start thinking about you. Have you seen how they make money? They've got those colored fibers and stuff in the paper. So I'm sorry, that company that made the paper, you're kind of an idiot. Right. If you figured out how to duplicate American money paper and you think it's for stationary, you're an idiot. OK. Can I just like speak like on behalf of stationary? Yes, because I'm really into it. Yes. And like notebooks, like really nice paper and like pens. Yes, there is a such a huge difference. In quality paper in.

28:27 Quality paper. Agreed. Like having a notebook that like sits flat and like I honestly love like Japanese notebooks and stuff yes, like that are. You can flip the thick pages and just lays. It just lays and and like the the way that your pen glides over the paper is just so nice. Like, yes, I understand like that. Come on, money versus paper, like it's the same fucking thing. But also people like us who love a nice piece of paper or like life, there are so many of them. So yes, would it be so crazy to think that maybe, I don't know that they put. Blue and red and green fibers in the paper. Why would you do that? Well, I would, I mean, I've had like to make it look like it's recycled or like make it look like that, like homemade paper. You know how they have like words and things like that That'll yeah, that'll like that way, I guess. But yeah, why would it not be these all the exact same? I mean, it's identical.

29:22 Clearly they thought it was with the real paper. Yeah, I mean, that's And how did they know anyway it had? So many questions they had to have had. There was someone on the inside there had to have. Had to have been, had to have been. So they called this, they call it Plant 62. This is what the Americans end up calling this paper manufacturer in North Korea. OK, That's the front right of paper manufacturing. They call it Plant 62. And in fact, you, there's places of it online, you can see it and it's got fucking this looks like a prison, like there's guard towers, there's like walls with barbed wires, like this four story building. But course, North Koreans aren't going to question it. Of course, that's a paper manufacturing company. Yeah, they're not going to question. It they think their people are gods. And you don't question, you don't ask questions, you. Don't ask questions at all.

30:11 So the micro printing features like it's 140 thousandth of an inch. You know how they say that the printing is kind of raised a little bit? If you get a brand new dollar bill and you rub your finger over it, you can kind of feel. It you can feel the the different inks and stuff. That was exactly 140 thousandth of an inch. It was identical, absolutely identical. All of these little, I don't know, there's like little spiders printed in corners. There's like the, the ribbon inside, there's the holograph. There's, I mean, there's a hundred different things there. Are a ton of like small things that like add up to like ensure that it's not real. Yeah, that it's that it's real.

30:54 All of them were there. The genius part about this whole thing, yeah, is that the North Korea's put microscopic flaws in their notes so that they could tell the difference between a real and their own fake. That's the only way they could tell the difference. Who? Knew where to look. They knew exactly a microscopic flaw where to look for. Wow. Wow. And so, so if a bunch of like hundreds came back, they'd be like, fuck you. Like this is our own fake money. They have to meticulously look at everyone. Every single bill. Single one which they end up I'm going to tell you a story.

31:34 OK so the US Treasury had to introduce new security features because they find out about this. But plan 62 somehow keeps up keeps the pace. Now it can be argued somebody inside or they're just so they haven't this is like their bread and butter. So they're gonna, they're gonna spend the time and the painstaking effort to figure all this stuff out and do it. I mean, yeah, like as you were saying, it's like they they have like both of them or excuse me, these this plant, these people that is their that's their number one revenue in source.

32:20 So why would they not? Or only. Or only yeah, source most significant surely. Like you know, why would they not be creating different versions and have ways and like know all the spots to check the imperfections at that's. That's their purpose and. They're diversifying their their money. That is like perfect. I'll be honest, fucking go for it. The fact that they've that they've like created all of this. You're like. It's impressive. It's like, maybe you guys should be creating, you know, like maybe there's something we can learn from you in this, this whole thing. The determination's impressive.

33:01 Impressive. Exactly. So by the mid 1990s, North Korea had weaponized the US dollar itself, obviously turning America's currency into ultimately a financial attack. Right? Right. So the the US is being very patient, but by the 90's, the scope of the Super note was out of control. So they're like, we've got to do something about this. So the in 96, the US did a completely redesigned US bell, and that's when Franklin's portrait got huge. Oh yeah. Remember it got really big in the middle. That's why they did that and they did all the other stuff that you remember. They added watermarks and the security threads were moved and enhanced.

33:45 And, and if you like held like like if you hold like a dollar bill or something like up in the light, then you could see like the the picture of Benjamin Frankel. Yeah, it's like smaller on the inside. And yeah, there are like various spots. And you know what? I'll be honest, our currency has always been boring as fuck. It is boring. It's so boring. It's getting better now that. Was the that was the best one, right? Yes. But you look at everybody else's money, it's so gorgeous. It's like multiple colors. You have like a strip of like. Clear windows and some of them. Yeah, it's like it's super like it, you know, from an artistry or like, you know, just looking at the bills and the coins, they just look so much better and so much more professional.

34:28 Like ours do look shitty and it seems like they should they should like go to to a different fucking they get they should be you know what if it took North Korea making so much money off of us to get better money. Great, Thank you guys. Thank you for the better looking money. But it still looks looks bad. So so that was so they they changed the size. Because of that, that was America's kind of way. Also, just telling North Korea we know what you're doing. That was kind of their intent. Yeah, because that was the only so. Significantly different. It wasn't like just a little change. It was a significant change. And so then North Korea responds with something even more audacious. Because less than two years later, the first counterfeit of the big head Franklin surfaced in a London bank. Shut up.

35:17 Because somehow through industrial espionage, they had obtained the exact pigment formulation used by the Treasury. Because, remember, they changed the ink to, it was like this holographic ink, remember, or color shifting or whatever it was. Yeah. And that was manufactured by a Swiss company. So they somehow infiltrated the Swiss the Swiss company. Like now we're making pens for our stationary company. Anyway, I digress. Back to Bob was wanting to buy the money, right? Yeah, they were going to sell it to him for $0.35 on the dollar. OK. So he wanted 1,000,000 bucks, going to cost him $350,000 to buy this money. And there was this reporter from the AP and she tells this story where, you know, they couldn't use foreign credit cards in North Korea, so they had to take cash.

36:05 And she would always take $100 bills, you know, because you need to take a lot of cash. You can't take 10's and 20s. And every time that she would give them the money they would have, they'd put it on a table and all these N Koreans would gather around and inspect every bill. And she thought it was weird. Yeah. Why are you? Why are you checking every bill like I'm giving you this money? It's very weird. Unbeknownst to her, they were looking for the little microscopic flaw they. Wanted to make they're like. You're giving us our money back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't want our shitty money. We want the real shit. Exactly. So funny. Isn't that crazy? So insane. And so she reports this to the other thing.

36:45 Yeah. So she she goes to a store and everywhere that they went, they were like trying to exchange money with her. Like that was people's like if you were in a store, that's what they wanted you to do. Like they were, everyone was asking her to exchange, you know, exchange. Money. Can I have your money? Yeah. Hey, you want to trade 100 for your 100? Yeah, interesting. So she reports this to the North Korean embassy because she's the London reporter. And they, of course, deny it, say it's a farce the US has, you know, trying to trash North Korea because, you know, America is North Korea's enemy. But of course, they deny it's a complete, complete parse. Complete parse.

37:29 Right. Bob gets back to Game Bikes body purchases the the $1,000,000 in Super Super Notes for $350,000. He's told that the Super Notes are going to arrive in a container filled with rolls of fabric. They somehow, at the end of the role, had all of these $100 fake $100 bills. I mean, they deliver. They delivered to his warehouse. Yeah, this $1,000,000 in fake money. So now the FBI has the evidence that they need to start making arrests. But the problem is they got to get these people to the United States. Like how? Yeah, they have to extradite them. They have to. They could get him here. Yeah, how are you supposed to get, you know, especially for a country like that that is like totally closed off.

38:13 How the hell are you going to? Get them to the United. States the US a legitimate reason. So this is where smoking dragon and royal charm kick in. So on the East Coast, they set up this fake wedding they had. It was like legit. They like created all these wedding invitations, guest registry, wedding registry. I mean, it was a full on production. The FBI even lent and it's of course the groom and the bride were FBI agents, but they got like a big a huge diamond ring out of Evan, you know, out of their wherever they store their stuff. Yeah. I mean, it was like. Like a massive like you cannot don't. Miss this, Deny this wedding.

38:58 Yeah, you could miss it, yeah. It's it's like the event of the century. Exactly. So the wedding's gonna happen on a yacht? Oh, perfect. And so all the wedding guests turn up. They even people are bringing registered guests like with the what they report. One guest even brought a Rolex. I mean, these are high polluting rich bitches. Yes, yes. And so they get all of these guests into the cars, limo driven cars to take them to the yacht. They all had their own car, their own chauffeur. Unbeknownst to them, they were getting driven right to the FBI. Right, right. They're like, Oh yeah, yeah, no, we'll, we'll drive you straight there.

39:41 He has exactly in your own little car. Yeah, you're so lucky. You know, like you think about it and you're saying like a Rolls or they have like these Rolexes or whatever. Wouldn't you think like everyone's like, do you guys know these people? Do you know these people like these? I don't know this the people who are having. Other wedding, yeah, yeah. So I didn't get the details about how they felt like they needed to show up other than, you know, you get so tight in these things. Yeah, in the world, it's like everyone gets invited to every and to every. And then some form or fashion, you're going to feel like you're obligated to go, especially if it's this, you know, billion dollar wedding, yes, you know. Yeah, totally. So that's probably what happened anyway. So Smoking Dragon went even deeper. So for 18 months, undercover agents embedded themselves in the Chinese and Taiwanese smuggling rings. They watched super notes being hidden in hollowed out books sewn into fabric bolts like what Bob got stuffed inside children's toys, legitimate containers. Like it was going all over the place. And I think the most fascinating one was they tracked this Taiwanese guy who lived in Las Vegas, and he would take the counterfeit $100 bills into a casino, put them into a penny slot, play a few hands, cash out, and then take the ticket to the cashier.

41:05 So basically put $100 in, play a couple penny rounds, cash out, take the $99 ticket to the cashier and get 99 real dollars, kind of like what we were talking about earlier in just a weekend. He cleaned like $10,000 like it was easy for him to do. And nobody questioned the fact that he had like these $100 bills that he was just putting into. In a penny slot. I know a high, a High Roller in a penny slot. Yeah, that's fucking hilarious. So dumb and so that the casinos had obviously video of this and they get help from the Secret Service to examine, you know these reels and it was later used as evidence. But we see him ultimately meeting with Bob, Bob, our Bob guy, because he was involved in this and they met, he met him at a Ritz Carlton.

41:56 And there's also another guy that was doing the counterfeit cigarette thing. He helped kind of coordinates. They're doing all of this stuff to get these criminals. So Bob has come up with another story for his targets that he said he's married, he had a girlfriend, his my wife found out about his girlfriend. He's filing the divorce. So he wants to have a divorce party. So that's how he was going to get more people. Party. Party and by the way, we're having the party at the Playboy Mansion, so they're like. I've never been to the Playboy Mansion. I want to go. Yeah, so they end up arresting 59 people. But what's frustrating is that none of the North Koreans came. It was all the Chinese in Hong Kong. That's what I was wondering.

42:42 Middle men. This showed up. Yeah, it wasn't the, it wasn't the people with the real. Yeah. I mean, it would make sense because, like, what is the purpose? They're going to go to someone to the United States to see a wedding. Yeah, someone's not going to let them do that. Uh huh. Do you remember the famous Sony incident? Do you remember N do you remember the movie that came out about North Korea? It was a comedy. And then N Sony got hacked and the the files got threatened to be deleted. And do you remember? Those I I vaguely remember that happening.

43:25 Yeah, that was like what? Like in when? Was that? Yeah, Yeah, it was. It's been a while ago. Well, that was North Korea hacking into Sony. Because ultimately what's happened is the United States has shut down their entire counterfeiting ring, right. By this point, like, North Korea's busted, like they can't do anything. Banks are being scared. They don't want to do business with North Korea anymore, right? So they another truly getting shut out of the world and so they're like, well, now what can we do? Cybercrime, right? Cybercrime, right. So the Sony thing was kind of their first attempt, big attempt, successful attempt by the way, of hacking into company.

44:12 So on the 29th of January in 2015, an e-mail is sent to the Central Bank of Bangladesh from someone saying they're looking for work. And by the way, it's exactly like the same e-mail that was sent to Sony, but this one goes to many employees. And here's what the letter said. It said Hi, I'm Rachel, I'm extremely excited about the idea of becoming part of your company and I'm hoping that you can give me an opportunity to present my case in further detail in a personal interview. Here is my resume and cover letter. Thank you in advance for your time and consideration. Well, it only takes one person to open that attachment one, and they had full on access to that bank and we're going to, they were in the process, literally in the process of getting almost a billion bucks out of this bank. And this again, this is another episode that I'm actually considering I'm doing is this whole event someone by some luck sees something and ends up stopping it. They still got away with $81,000,000 by the way. Holy shit.

45:25 But they didn't get a billion, right? So now we got North Korea complete expert cyber criminals. What's the actual hell? They're like the kid who keeps on getting put into timeout and like they just, they just find another way to get in trouble. You're like, no, no, we are not giving. You need to stop playing with that ball. You're not. Yeah. Like you're not supposed to sit like you're in timeout. You need to, you know, you need to sit in timeout like you're on a stool. Then they're like playing with a stool and you're like, is somehow like creating crazy drama. OK, we're taking away your stool. You still have to sit in the corner.

46:07 And it's just like the auntie keeps on, keeps on being brought up and up and up. Yes, they are the, like I said, the top of the show. They are the most recluse cut off from the world country. Yes. Yeah, look at what they can accomplish. It's the ingenuity. Like it's impressive. It's impressive. Could. You imagine what they could do for their people. Oh my God. Yeah, yeah. Korea could probably become Korea again, quite honestly. So it totally could, yeah. But the dictator doesn't want that. He wants to do crime and, you know, live off his people's back. Right, right. I mean, because you know him and all the people who are in power, it's like we're always talking about this power, this idea, this power dynamic.

46:47 And it's like, of course, of course he's gonna try to keep him and his cronies like in power. Of course he's going to, he's not gonna, he's not gonna try to, he's not gonna all of a sudden like have a change of heart. And you know, by the way, it's like the current, you know, what is it the current ruler or the dictator, God, king, whatever of North Korea, He is the son of this guy. So it's like, so it's not like his, you know, it's not like his dad was like, OK, we're gonna watch Disney movies and like, have you learned morality and like, you know, and teach you all these things? It's like you're, you are used to a criminal. You know, a criminal. It's like raising mob. Raising mob. Yes, exactly.

47:28 Like that's what you know, you're going to continue it. You're not going to be thinking about people, you know, and their, you know, welfare. This is the only world you've known. I was. So, I mean, I knew. I knew what you knew about North Korea when we talked about it and the things you were saying. That's what I thought when I heard at the level of criminal activity, the counterfeiting and the cybercrime that came out of that, I was my jaw dropped to the floor. I couldn't believe it. Actually, like it was pretty I I have not heard I've not heard of that. And like, let's be honest, like, you know, you have like all of those emails like report phishing or spam or whatever, like report these things because you never know.

48:08 But it's like apparently like with this bank, you know, it's very, very true. Like if you if you open up a file from someone somewhere you don't know, it doesn't matter. Like when you're repeating what the e-mail said, it sounds so fucking stupid. And like in my in my head, I'm like. But you're in that mindset. Right, yes, I am. But like if you see that e-mail, like if you see the e-mail come through, you're like, this is very weirdly like written like what kind of motherfucker? Like let's see the. Rest of that catchment, yeah. Yeah, exactly. Well, no, I would be like, I'd be like, this is. What this dummy is, Yeah, who do we really have the experience? Like where the fuck is this guy from? Click. Especially if you're not in that mindset, it just and it just takes one person it. Does what?

48:52 Because it was just one person, right? Like, and that's, you know, and then they got like 86 million. Like the ingenuity is impressive. And you're like, God, if you could just be putting that energy towards something else, you know, your people wouldn't be suffering. Because let's let's like not get it twisted. The Korean people are suffering. The people who are making this money is not the person who has who's like working as a factory worker. That's right. Who's actually making this fucking money? The geniuses and the people who are behind this are it's not the dictator, like it's not those people in power. It is. It's the people who happen to live there. So there is brilliance there. It's not within that leadership and that what a shame that is. Sick.

49:35 It's totally sick, but quite literally living off the backs of your people. Gross. Can we just say fuck that guy? Yeah, fuck him. Yeah. And that family, because, you know, they raised, they raised. A crazy shit person. I mean, they're all crazy. The the other thing that I just think about is like, yeah, I just feel so bad because these sanctions, these were sanctions. It's like it does feel really wrong and it feels like we're punishing everyone because of the actions of a few. We are. It's sad it happens. Yes, gross. I hope that would be really cool. Like if we had aliens come down, they're like, hey, guess what, We're all, we're going to make you guys all telepathic and everyone's won and like. Talk to them.

50:17 Yeah, You can talk to them. And then you can also just be like, well, guess what? All we can like, see how awful all these people are, and they're no longer in power. You know, I just, I just hope that these people. You know so. Sad to see. Yeah. It's just, it's heartbreaking heart, honestly, it is. But like that story of the of the counterfeiting, like the money, it makes you wonder if something like that's currently happening. Like I'm what? Don't we know? There's so much we don't know and the stuff, the stuff that's like the scariest, right Back then when they were like, you know, doing money and stuff. It was before the Internet was where it is now. My God, like people can hack into like that's another thing. It's like fucking protect your your technology and like start putting blocks and stuff on things like like I started covering the cameras.

51:01 I don't have it covered on my phone but like I need to cover my phone up at all times like that data that. Information should be doing it on our iPads and. I actually. Have it on my computer. Yeah, I have it on my iPad now, but like, I just got some. But it's like, you know, if they're hacking into banks, who's who's to say they're not hacking into everything else? Well, of course they are. You know of? Course they are. Don't trust anything. Oh God. You. Know that was such an interesting story. Holy shit I didn't realize. I just think of them being like, yes. Exactly. Technologically like inept. Yeah, that's the thing. That's that's the stereotype in our, then it's in our. I wouldn't think of a criminal mastermind. No syndicate? Nope.

51:42 It's wild. God, Thank you. OK, you're welcome. We will. I guess we'll we'll chat in a week or so. Yes, we will. And you know, if you liked the the podcast, please like, comment, subscribe, rate US anywhere you're listening to this and follow us on social media. Please. If you've ever been to North Korea, let us know. We're happy you're out if that's the case, no doubt. Or if you're listening from North Korea, get the fuck out. You're you're on the right side of of history right now. Great. I was. I'll talk to you guys soon. Yeah. Talk to you soon. Yeah. See ya. Bye.