excitement to the skies over the spanish island of grand can aria, the super moon is the closest full moon to the earth of the year. and that makes it look bigger and brighter than normal. as you can see, you're watching d w news coming up. next we got a documentary film for you looking at how north korea, from the poorest countries in the world is able to finance is nuclear weapons program. i'm terry market. thanks for watching the green. do you feel worried about the furnace to the host of the on the green fence? 3 is clear remains to join me for 6 sizes of the green transformations. for me to do that.

ah, ah, yes, i game of thrones that without dragons is an error. socratic society is capitalist, and everything is geared to make sure that there's as much cash for him as possible . aah! told you that capitalism. money is the life blood flowing through the bank. yeah, it's no different than north korea. bureau, $39.00 is involved in everything that makes money for north korea, selling arms marketing of drugs, conser feeding of us bills. this is about hundreds of millions of dollars a year. tune the time to did everything, everything. all we were told was make dollars

the all the north korea, a pariah state, largely isolated from the rest of the world. a dictatorship shrouded in mystery. ah. every day the country's statement media praise the heroic deeds that the supreme leader ah time seemed to stand still here. ah, in truth number 2, we have the full knowledge is told me in the world for 3 generations. the king

family has ruled the country by divine rights and with an iron fist. news careers military? oh no, it's outdated, but contain nuclear weapon earning the country severe sanction. how does the regime manage to survive? and how has the kim's amassed enough money to threaten the world with the most powerful weapon of all the me on the other side of the world in the netherlands, a history professor is working on answer to these questions. ramco breaker from the university of leyden has been studying the enigmatic country and its rulers. for

years. he says, our image of north korea is mistaken north, for instance, what it tells us it is just look at the country functions and at the highest level, what is the main goal of, of the government of the, hey, my should say it's to make money is to make cash for kim. what intrigues me personally is how north korea managed to make money. one of the questions we are stuck with is where does the money go? how much money? just north korea make for the leadership in pyongyang. questions like these a dangerous, the north korean regime. send a letter of indictment under my name to the government, charging me with 3 capital crimes. the worst of the 3 was the accusation that our research, my research us and my name and damage the supreme dignity of the supreme either this sounds like it's a funny crime, right?

damaging the supreme dickens of somebody in north korea kerisha death penalty a threat not to be taken lightly. remco brake has the investigation threatened to disrupt north korea as sources of hard currency. the country's 1st nuclear bomb tests in 2006 prompted its international isolation without legal sources of income, the regime took to raising money illegally. ah, new york, the seat of the united nations. it's here that the u. n. has imposed 9 rounds of sanctions against north korea and also where its global activity monitored by an international panel of experts. the group consists of 8 members, including former intelligence, military and financial experts for their own safety. they work away from the public eye. only the coordinator, hugh griffith is willing to speak on camera. the sanctions have

a tremendous impact on one level on north korea. it means that economy can't flourish in the way it would if they were able to sell the largest foreign currency and commodities legitimately. so they can't ship the coal legitimate play, they can't ship iron or legitimately, they can't ship zinc legitimately. foreign currency is very important to any country. and no matter how or talking to call me, you need foreign currency to buy the goods that are essential for your population or your elite group. so foreign currency is pretty essential to north korea survival. the question is, what's more important to the north korean leadership, developing nuclear ballistic missile program or seeing their economy flourish? yeah,

in the regime opted to go for the bomb in 2005. it's officially revealed that it had nuclear weapons as protection against attacks from foreign powers. specifically the united states. i yang home to the government and to the countries in the shiny new apartment block line, spotlessly clean, showcase 70. this is where the young young's upper class reside. the city is home to 3000000 people, but only those who are considered loyal to the regime live here. anyone wanting to enter the capital from the outside needs the permit function to work that unions, economic research institute, he's authorized to talk to journalists about the sanctions. for example, you don't wanna leave it. it's impossible to sanction a country completely, always,

even now we trade and obtain foreign currency on our going banks as much as you like. we will advance of our own accord module. we will turn our competitiveness into a sword through our sacrifices, and we will progress brave. i pronounce it ok. single on the sanctions that i have been put on north korea are extremely strict. i mean, just for me enough in a country that has been sanctioned, bore diversity him or more strictly in the same time they're no longer working. ready there is a huge problem with our pharmacy and using sanctions to try and half the regime modifies behavior because we're not saying the one entity that

and most of his money keeps you the float financially. this keeps it alive. many high ranking defect his from north korea talk about a secret government department that said to administer the regime secret funds, kim il sung, and his son, kim joan, is reportedly set it up in the late 19 seventy's and equipped it with wide ranging powers, its tasks using calanda stine hard currency transactions to secure an independent power base for the kims, while also raising money for the nuclear bomb. and the leaders personal luxury, its name office, 39, only 200 kilometers to the southeast. so south korea's type hamilton capital, and one of the 10 most expensive cities in the world. around 25000000 people live in the metro area, about half the population of south korea. among them,

most of the 30000 people who managed to flee from north korea to start a new and hopefully anonymous life in the megacity who young fun used to be in north korean diplomat, he escaped 1991. he went on to become deputy director of south korea institute for national security strategy, which employees north korean defectors together, valuable information. few people know more about the kim dennis deese workings. came to me when jan has is that when kim jong il came to power, he renamed the finance department as the workers party central committee. it was now called office 39 because it was located on floor injury in room 9 summer. busy we another story says that it was march 9th, when kim jong il issued, in order to set up such a bureau de either way to this day who office 39 is the department that collects

and managers the him, families secret funds for. so you, me talk to any prominent north korea next and that all tell you that bureau, 39 is absolutely crucial in earnings refuse for a free machine. it's absolutely fine. it'll take away everything collapses. here in new york, the united nations impose and monitor the sanctions against north korea, an entity as important as office. 39 surely ought to be at the top. have prescribed organizations office 39 is normally talked about by north korean defectors, we don't really see office 39 in our investigations. instead, we're looking at the north korean banks. and the shell companies traditionally

operate overseas in 3rd countries to generate foreign currency. and then that money is sent back to north korea. office $39.00 is never mentioned in official documentation, money raising act of a teeth span the globe. and covert in cambodia, a world heritage site. over 2 and a half 1000000 people visit the ancient temple complex every year. me, sophia, for the tourists. hard currency for cambodia in tourism is by far the largest sector of the economy here. and coal was operating company and more than $100000000.00 in 2018, a lucrative business. and one that north korea is caching in on. i

right next to the entrance to the temple is the museum that opened in 2015. at its heart, it's a 3 d painting depicting the history of the command empire in monumental images, the throngs of tourists that guided through here every day. so. 7 that they from north korean, we had 50 city pen 10. let's how one. yeah. and from one to pen can i and who constructed it was it was a company in or no, no cody, and then not put in contact them. i can venting un sanctions north korea not only built the complex but also financed it in return on young pockets. all the takings for the 1st 10 years after that profits will be shared $5050.00. the north korean director didn't want to appear on camera,

but he did tell us that the museum makes about $7000000.00 a year in entrance sees a figure he expects to treble in the near future. ah, in the evening after the museum closes, the north korean throw. another set of doors open for the tourists with cameras. now welcome inside the restaurant. we film in secret yeah, we had a reservation yesterday. where did you know the tables are almost always fully booked and reserved. okay. then because the your the menu buzz, north korean specialties such as cold noodles and seek you come back. the price to

surprisingly high by cambodian standards, with main course, is costing up to $50.00. the restaurant is especially popular among tourists from china and south korea. most of the young women who work here off season from pyongyang, they live and sleep above the restaurants and in many cases and not allowed to leave the premises for years. every evening, at the same time, they changed their outfit and get ready for the big show me. i the there are 130 north korean restaurants like this. worldwide. 3 of them in cambodia

. they believed to make several $1000000.00 a year. but the waitresses don't get paid a sense the big bucks, weston hard currency flow directly into the regime secret coffee. the this is just one example of north korea is systematic exploitation of its own population. north korean workers deployed around the world even in the european union, such as here in poland. we found north korean work brigades on a building site. they were promised good wages and decent working conditions, only to be treated like slaves. in the evening, after a 12 hour shift, the workers, the bust back to their hospitals,

they monitored around the clock by north korean agents. ah, the one of them however, decided to talk to me when i was, you know, no problem coming here on your own. you know, on sundays we can go out alone. when you get to what would happen if you got caught when several joe played accuse me of this and that. and i'd be interrogated by north korean state security here in poland. if they were not satisfied, they'd send me back to pyongyang for further interrogation with you guys when i

might even get put in prison. something you know, how long did you get to johnny's fishing? so you have a job here. i came here to make money. it's all, no matter how hard i work, i can't make money. couldn't. i'm ready to work. conditions are miserable upon them all. you've done know wish and i have no freedom. we have to spend our lives crammed together in groups. so you're probably aware that they keep almost all of our wages. we only get a reaction, but you know, i will give you hunted shoes. you know, i'm in my thirties and my wife and daughter are at home. have to keep my or next to nothing. it's not on, but i have to do this for them, get them on the, i have no choice here in the, in chrome book, you'll see the modern day slavery as north korea sense, well trained workers to poland,

to toil away and shipyards and on construction sites. the workers, families are effectively held hostage in north korea. if a worker flees their relatives back home will often face severe punishment. the work is paid just 90 euros a month. the rest goes to the regime as it cashes in for kim, largely unnoticed by the international community. north korea has sent laborers all over the world, belief to number up 285-0000 in all about 40000 of them are in russia and adapt 280-0000 in china. north koreans also work in q 8, malaysia, cambodia, mongolia, amman, cattle, the united arab emirates, and in a number of african countries. the u. n. has become aware of this income for p on young and just determined to drain the sources. experts estimate that the regime

makes up to $1000000000.00 a year this way or how and wherever money is earned. it ends up at office 39, you order. it conducts money transactions with absolute authority for one in which all defect to say the office is directly controlled by kim jones and manages the leadership secret account. what's called the palace economy. where exactly am shown young is office 39 located and just how many millions flow into its coffers. ah, we asked the north korean official. he and his interpreter feign ignorance.

i don't understand the question, but perhaps you know more have you ever heard of floor? 39. 39 floor. are we talking about high rises? oh fish. 39 is one of the best kept secrets of the kim regime. only north koreans who've escaped are able to talk about it openly. about me. enter secret location, we need to man who used to work for the office. he was based in china, his task smuggling foreign currency. then he escaped. his position was so important that the north korean regime had threatened to kill him. afraid of being identified. he had plastic surgery to alter his face.

and even then he's only willing to be filmed from behind me. jones hi is a human 0 with north korea ostensibly has a planned economy more than that. ready this means that the state takes care of supplying the population with food and the other good to know. but in north korea, this system has been largely abandoned me. the supply of food and goods for daily youth has as such, collapse more as a result. just the majority of the north korean population has to be self sufficient, is home and resort to the black market where it is hard to understand office 39 and the capitalist structures in place in north korea. it's important to understand its history. in 1991, the world's biggest communist country, the soviet union was developed and north korea last one of its most important trading partners. well, many formally communist states now switched to

a market on the me. the kims continued to further isolate themselves in 1994, the year kim joan is succeeded, his late father, a devastating famine, descended on the country. during the great famine mid nineties, many north korean starts to death. the public distribution system collapse. witnesses described seeing mountains of dead bodies in the streets, anywhere between $1.00 to $3000000.00 screens died. so what happens is the north koreans now knew that if there was to survive, they could no longer trust or rely on the states. and it was the rural population in particular who had to be self sufficient. black market started to emerge known as jung medina. today, the robin a know number of these markets throughout the country for hundreds of them, or even officially licensed,

providing tax income for the regime. most of the buying, selling and bartering here involves food and goods from china. all manner of current things are accepted, especially us dollars and chinese. you can either speak to china and north korea shera border. that is more than a 1000 kilometers long fuel. but over 80 percent of that border is not even secured with barbed wire to people in the border region are subject to little control by the state police and they enjoy substantial trade with china. to mean this trade is the basis for the black market and north korea, i've always, ah, the biggest beneficiaries from the informal economy on government officials in pyongyang. because the loyalty, though mainly out of financial self interest, the regime permits them to trade. and over the years they've become wealthy,

they sell luxury good muggle raw materials and in in real estate, their cold doses masters of money and to enjoy the luxury and freedom afforded to them by the regime. but that loyalty comes at a price to many dollars. you hold senior government positions including office, 39 like this man who's been living in hiding in soul since he fled the north. while growing up in the ninety's, he witnessed how north korea developed increasingly capitalist stretches before his escape. he was responsible for export. likely the officers most profitable business ferrying reprisals from the regime. he likewise does not wish to be recognised

me. time has. hi hon. day my position and rank within the organization was management employee a name i was in charge of foreign trade and we'll be jo with edge apartments that did trade with europe. by sure, a lot of them, in fact, much hamburg germany until a few years ago, the north korean state insurance company k. and i see had a branch in an innocuous looking apartment block in the city from here. 6, north korean officials may deals with major european insurers home office, 39 has

a department for foreign insurance policies in jungle. this department conducts insurance fraud going on the homes, hired on them. for example, they used to re insure a russian m 18 helicopters that were nearing the end of their operational lives in ha, somebody's here in concrete terms, this department signed contract with large european insurance firms that we can initially, they would pay the insurance premiums, a $5000.00 a month or more on time, eventually the helicopters were blown up or set on fire to collect the insurance, some punish kinda worried. and that amounted to maybe $2000000.00 a month. when you do that, i was just one case among many in 2015, the european union added the k, and i see to it sanctions list accusing the company of co financing pyongyang,

nuclear weapons program via office. 39. experts estimate that rec helicopters and similar tricks helped the kim regime brake in several $100000000.00. north korea uses its global network of embassies to ferry money back to pyongyang, government officials enjoying diplomatic immunity, transport the money in cash in flight baggage. a simple but efficient way of ensuring the funds keep on flowing me for nothing. the embassies half a different ethnic function that that's often mainly ceremonial but their to function is financial. it's also illegal. mainly screen diplomats are basically cast carriers for kim, they're into for their, their businessman. they may be drink lower than maybe weapons smugglers,

but they carry a different passports. so you contact me providing military supplies, training, and much of that has been done through north korea's embassies, particularly in africa and the middle east side of all the countries in the middle east. currently, syrian, our republic has the greatest levels of prohibited cooperation with north korean military entities. her face, i'll ask that the father if the current syrian dictator had been on friendly terms with then north korean leader kim ill. so since the 960 s p on yang supplied syria with military personnel as well as weapons and ammunition in its war against israel. an important source of income, which exists to this day, ah,

using tactics resembling those of 18th century pirates office. 39 operates congo ships under full flags and fake names. according to the un, this is enabled north korea to send large quantities of weapons and military equipment to syria. between 201220178 says at least 40 shipments with prohibited congo from north korea passed through the suez canal. but then the us managed to have one of the delivering intercepted so we found something called on its way to syria. these were acid resistance tiles, involves which could be used in chemical weapons development, but also missile fuel is highly corrosive. such tiles could be used for ballistic missile program as well. the bill of lading clearly gave,

has an address in syria established from the company, syria scientific studies research center. the s s l c. which is responsible for a serious ballistic missile chemical weapons development program. the russians did insist the chemical weapons produced in the s s l. c's. labs have been used by syrian dictator shot against his own people. for years. many of those who died in agony, one 3rd of all buildings in syria have been destroyed. the regime in damascus has been planning for the time after the civil war ends and hope to receive billions of dollars from international donors of the countries of reconstruction. the armies of work as required as it come from north korea, as formerly agreed by the 2 countries at a meeting in june 2019 here to pyongyang is looking forward to

a lucrative business. the money that earns right off is $39.00. it goes straight into the coffers of leadership. it is used on the one hand to provide for luxury items. it is used to pay for the mercedes benz car stats somehow found their way into the korea despite the sanctions. but it also, it is also used and this is probably more important to deliver the best hackers. you can, you can train as early estimate, eighty's came and young, ill started training the most talent of children in terms of mathematical abilities and program abilities to become cyber anchors. they're also good money earners. ransomware, like the weather, cry fires, for example, is considered to come from the north koreans. it is the biggest cyber attack the world has ever seen. hundreds of thousands of computers around the world in about $150.00 countries rendered useless. now the u. s. government is publicly placing

the blame for that cyber assault, uniquely doug, want to cry squarely, and kim jong owns army of hackers, british intelligence officials and microsoft had previously concluded that groups associated with the north korean regime were responsible for the want to cry, hack in soul i t specialists have north korean hackers squarely in the sites. simon, choice works as a consultant for south korean intelligence agencies. could washing and learn. we've been following the activities of north korean hackers for 10 years now . in the past, they've been primarily attacking the south korean ministry of defense and other government agencies are key since around 2015. it's become clear that their interest has shifted to international bank committee. north korea has limited access to the internet with only 1000 ip addresses available to the country. many

a used by north korean computer specialists to attack other countries. experts say that between 601300 hackers are at work for the regime. an estimated 2000000000 dollars may have been diverted by young, highly trained north korean hackers to fund the countries nuclear weapons program. the north korea is changing. an impoverished communist state is now a country with highly flexible shadow economy. and as with commercial companies, all that matters are american dollars. cash for kim, the workers here and now saving away, not for the revolution, but for the wealth of their leader and his cronies. as the gap between rich and poor widen. ah, well, the population impugn yang, enjoy constant growth in prosperity. the un says that 40 percent of the rural

population still suffer from malnutrition. in order to control it, people, the regime, employees, old school or sore, a tarion rule north korea's underground economy. on the other hand is 21st century capitalism. dando, china. ready north korea gateway to the wild under symbol of how few child un efforts have been to dry up can foster of cash. mm. the signer korean friendship bridge across the jani river has connected the 2 nations since 943, every day, trucks queue up in front of the customs checkpoint. it brings together smugglers traders and also the agents. and entre printers of all, 39 honest and hoping to make a quick deal here. china is by far north korea is most important trading partner.

according to economics experts, it accounts for 90 percent of north korea's export trade. the thousands of north korean women are believed to work for textile manufacturers in the den down region, posting as businessmen and equipped with hidden cameras. we film inside one such factory chinese textile companies higher north koreans because their wages are lower than those of the domestic workforce. these seamstresses work day and night, and often sleep on the company premises. many are effectively locked out there for years, far away from their families. all together with a team of labor, lawyers, trade experts and data specialists, remco broker has been investigating whether europe,

in brands work with chinese companies that directly or indirectly employ north korea. we found out different things and one of the things we were actually hoping to establish was to use of north korean workers in chinese factories found really to our surprise is, is we do have north korean workers working under safe like conditions in china. the more than that chinese factories outsource to north green factories in north korea managed to prove the existence of a significant amount of, nor stream slave labor in the supply chain of some of the rules leading clothing companies. breakers team took an especially close look at one chinese textile company with the, and name von dest, or east, and wind the firm's own website. states that it relies on low labor cost and

abundant human resources. the list of customers reads like a who's who of international fashion brands. the on this website, features this men's jackets described as korean imported. the buttons bear the words money genes using trade databases, brokers, team analyzed on this business dealings between 2013 and 20. 19 the databases use customs information, showing which goods to send back and forth between firms in different countries. so what happens is that china cents the material to make certain types of clothes to north korea. one move they are the ship beck in the same container. and then you have finished us, does close, are again shipped to say the netherlands, or to germany, or to america. and from there, they're distributed into our source between 2013 and december, 2016 von dest sent around $10000000.00 worth of fabrics,

enrollment cerio to north korea. during the same period, the company received finished garments west almost $25000000.00 from north korea. customs classify textiles by so called harmonized system codes. a lady's sweater, for example. we'll have a different h s code than a pair of men's genes. we take a look at h, his code 621. it stands for men's anoraks and coats, including the money jacket on the website. between 2013 and december 2016 von dest imported products, with this code with $12000000.00 from north korea. the same code is also found with deliver, he's from von dest to europe, and the u. s. among the customers, diesel and money. money jackets that look exactly like the one on the on desk

website can also be bought in europe. this one costs 219 euros. it's impossible to prove beyond doubt, but government site this one a made in north korea. but at the same time, can it be ruled out? we asked the companies implicated to comment. amante's response. we confirmed that phone. dest is one of our suppliers, and as such, is regularly subject to checks and inspections. the results of these checks being that no finished product manufactured in north korea, like all our suppliers, it is also required to declare which subcontractors it use it, and where these are concerned. it is also the case that none are in north korea, wheels directive own dest, the company offered no explanation as to why and on what scale it trades with north korea. one thing can be said for certain big name,

fashion brands have their goods manufactured by a chinese company that does business with north korea. a country where workers have no rights where human life counts for little or nothing. and breakers investigation shows that this is far from an isolated case. chinese firms used factories in north korea to produce goods with hundreds of millions of dollars. for years, a years we've heard testimony from north korean escapees who were in concentration . camps today have been forced to produce textile for the export market for famous western grants. and i think for the 1st time i've been able to corroborate that through an external source. i'm not through a testimony in this database. i found the department of bureau department that is responsible for managing the production of textiles for once the concentration comes outside from them.

it means that when you buy clothes produced by force, laborers, movies, and slave labor, we may even buy clothes in annella's, in germany. all through europe in america, death was made in concentration. camps by people never see the light of day. again, these are the kinds of camps that you don't leave until your death. that is just to her re fix, to, to put in worse and were completed. ah, hundreds of thousands of men and women secretly ensure the survival of the p on young regime. their futures is sacrificed for the luxurious lifestyle of the powers that be, and also for western consumerism and convenience. kim jonas, perhaps not so much in unhinge dictator as a coolie calculating businessman who runs his country like

a company. ah, and office 39, does plenty of business with everything. and everyone, including ah, ah, me thing, harassment. that's hardly any female student who hasn't experienced sexual violence in universities in britain, emily eyes and bag. it's fighting by the she's organizing protest. i'm her message is loud and clear. rate coach. focus on europe.

minutes on d. w with a there. i'm david and this is climate change, brags it happiness in 3 books for you to get smarter for free on you to me, species and expedition look into disease or the language of the setting part of underwater listening. if you're getting your window into their, their life that you have never, you would never see a

company research team to the pacific to the language of wales, june 4th on dw me, the news . this is d. w. news line from berlin. tens of thousands of people are fleeing the congo, least city of goma. authorities or warning of volcano could be about to rough for the 2nd time in a week. but this time they fear the consequences. be much worse. also coming up, a powerful cy clone battery park. during the india, a storm is causing serious flooding and leaving 1000 homeless more than 1000000

people have been evacuated. and he wrote one of the most popular children's books of all time.