>> on fox files it has been called part of the axis of evil and a socialist nightmare. three generations from the same family control the most repressive place on earth. now this 20 something son armed with new is the dictator of north korea. is there growing dissent? our cameras go inside the under ground railroad. >> secret groups helping north koreans get out. this is extremely dangerous. >> for the first time this detector speaks. >> we escaped over the river at the narrowest part. >> what does a hockey player a banana baby from the 1930s and blue blood actress jennifer he

is po seat toe have in common? >> sill back you have celiac disease. the worst case i have ever seen. >> it is what happens with food and what is in it becomes your enemy. >> i am ar they will neville. >> i am bill hemmer. this is "fox files." oo december 28th, 2011, sub zero temperatures and a winter snow grip north korea as the world's most secretive and oppressive country laid to rest its supreme leader kim jong-il. the world got a glimpse into the sealed off nation. strong of north koreans lined the route of the funeral procession in a ritual of

bizarre mourning. it is unclear if it was genuine or motivated fear. >> people probably understood what would hap perspen if they t show this mourning. >> the state was working over time after his death. they were insuring north koreans did not deviate from official ideology. >> they created the most oppressive society in arguably human history. >> there's a fear of a blackmer said that will show up to your home one day and take you off. >> you say there are tens of thousands of christians in north korea. >> there is an under ground christian church in north korea. christian organizations rank them as the most persecuted church in the world. so we have tens of thousands of

christians. >> the cult of personality in north korea is probably liunlik anything we have seen in 20th century. >> most of the regime is making a new cult of personality among this young man kim juong-un. about him little is known. >> we don't even know how old he is. north korea hasn't released his birth date. we assume in his late 20s but that has never been confirmed. >> what is known she commands te world's 4th largest army has 6 nuclear bombs threatened to use them to attack the u.s. though the population of 22 million acted with blind devotion with their new leader some people inside the country are beginning to show unprecedented dissent. >> the new under ground railroad is a network of safe houses and

secret groups helping north koreans get out. this is extremely dangerous among christian missionaries who work with the north koreans. >> in fox files exclusive we tracked down one man who risked everything to escape with his family. >> how scared were you when you were crossing that border? >> i knew in order to live i had to cross the river to get to the other side. >> they know when they leaf north korea they and their families are risking death. >> key yaw has been -- korea has unresolved war stretching back to the end of world war ii. >> they defeated after world war ii it divided north and south. >> while americans took control of the south the soviet union established the communist north under the leadership of a

33-year-old radical named kim ill sun. most dominating dictators. >> the institute of korean studies at ohio state university. >> we talked about personalities for stalin but nothing compared to kim ill sun. >> the first leader was born april 15th, 1912, the same day the titanic was sinking in the north atlantic. >> he was a christian. his mother and father took him to church. >> melanie covered asia for the wall street journal and author of the book called "escape from north korea ka." >> he went to church as a young man. >> there were many christians and of the 1930s and 40s was known as the jerusalem of the east. >> by 1948 he appointed a partner. >> over the next decade the cult

of personality established around kim il sung rivalled many of the 20th century. >> none compared to him. >> the north korean government started the bizarre ideology in 1925. >> what it says is the north korean people are almost a superior race and they need to determine the future of their country and advance their socialist revolution on their own. we have the tower the huge white monument of one brick in the monument a symbol every day of the life of kim il sung. the think tank. everything resolvolved around embedding the ideology. >> in 1994 after decades spent enslaving the north korean people kim il sung died. >> there was genuine grieving when kim il sung died the legend

they looked at almost as a super natural being. >> the successor was trying to become god like. >> kim jong-il was the oldest son. >> kim jong-il was said to have been born on the sacred mountain. this is where by korean legend the korean nation began many thousands of years ago. >> the small mountain cabin where it claims his mother gave birth is today a shrine. >> in fact he was born in russia when his father was with the russian military. >> by the early 1980s it seems that he had carved out a really significant niche himself within the power structure. >> kim jong-il was a compare tore of funds to a lot of people in the western world because he was short and had the beau font hair and wore elevator shoes.

he was in truth a very brutal dictator. >> he had incredibly expensive taste from everything from alcohol to cigarettes to expensive boats. >> it was often reported he liked american culture. >> he loved american film. he supposedly had a library of many thousands of films. he once had a south korean actress his favorite south korean actress abducted. she was kidnapped from the beach in hong kong and taken to north korea and required to become basically his actress slave. >> he kidnapped people and that's how they went about that with film and that's how they went about it with migrate uncle. >> his own family experienced the cruelty of the north korean regime. >> migrate uncle was a leading engineer. >> that would be your grandmother's brother. >> my mom and others told me about how during the korean war

the north koreans came across the border into south korea they were looking for people that could help them. the story was difficult for her to talk about whenever thnever heard from or seen her brother since. >> the country has been a living hell for millions. >> the famine of the late 1990s killed more than a tenth of the population in north korea. >> we estimate 2-3 million north koreans starved. >> we hear stories of people starving to death, people eating tree bark to survive and worst case scenarios is the story of cannibalism. >> it has gotten better and worse and better and worse since then but it has always been terrible. >> the dynasty continues today with thed the s spitting image grandfather.

>> coming up... >> one of the first acts was shoot to kill. >> he is tear fied of revolt. >> if you are sent back to from

>> it has been more than a year since the third son of kim jong-il took control of korea after his father's death. >> the other sons were perceived to be losers and this is the one who passed the potential to be the leader. >> it was an opportunity perhaps he would not be dictatorial. >> he made some statements that indicate he's a little hipper than his father was, for example he allowed his wife to be shown on tv. he appeared with life sized character kau tours of mickey mouse. >> he has lifted restrictions on the dress code for women in north korea allowing them to

dress in a more western fashion. >> if i look at his actions in regard to his own people there is there is very little difference between him and his father and grandfather. >> one of the first things he did upon succeeding his father was to issue a shoot to kill order to north korean border sgard -- guards. he said shoot anybody in the back who was trying to escape. >> they risk everything. they know when they leave north korea they are risking death. >> in 200he left everything behind in chicago to help north korean detectors. >> i lived in rural areas hiding out with north koreans sharing room with livestock for some periods. >> escaping north korea is the book chronicling it. >> it has a history for us to think about the 1800's to think about slavery and the fight to get north of the mason dixon

line. how would you describe what you consider the under ground railroad from north korea into china? >> it's 6,000 miles from north korea to china through southeast asia. >> there's a network of safe houses and secret routes. >> there are contacts along the route to help with the aid of north koreans. there are some within your network and some within another network willing to help. you know people in the cities that are willing to risk housing of north koreans. >> mike founded crossing borders a christian organization devoted to helping north korean refugees. this man who we will call un is currently the organization's director. >> i help north korean people in china. it's illegal for any one to even feed a north korean refugee. >> your identity is given up

sfwh>> i would go to jail and people working with us would be jailed and north koreans would be executed. we work with the under ground church in china we are the first link to the under ground railroad. >> when i would meet a north korean they would come into our shelter they would be scared out of their minds. they would set as far away from me at the he other end of the room as possible. >> crossing borders helped this man a 46-year-old north korean defect fore who fled his country. we have agreed not to give his name. >> i had flee because i had to stop the north koreans being kidnaped by the government. >> getting out of the north korea has the first hurdle. how do they do that? >> there is two-ways one is you can pay or bribe a border guard on the north korea and/or the china side. the other way is during the winter the river freezes over so

people walk across the ice. >> i went over in broad daylight my daughter another person and myself. we went to the river and pretended to wash our faces and escaped over the narrowest part. >> producer interviewed the detector in his small apartment in seoul, south korea. >> how scared were you when you were crossing that border? >> i knew that in order to live i had to cross the river and get to the other side. as soon as i got over first thought that popped into my head was, i am alive. >> once you cross from north korea into china it's not like the doors have been slung open. there are dangers in china, too. >> china has a zero tolerance policy of north koreans in china. >> not only police but china announce to her saturdcitizens the border to report north korean people to them so they

can earn money. >> if you are sent back from china into north korea what could happen to you? >> you committed treason by leaving the country and the punishment is death. >> the detector's wife and second daughter went to china more than a year later. >> she call add local christian church. >> what happens to family members in north korea if it is discovered one of their family members has managed to escape successfully? >> their families would suffer. >> the most brutal torture out of world war ii concentration camps. >> after we fled my brother and sister and all of their in-laws were brought to the intelligence office. my young ers brother in law was treated so severely he is practically paralyze the. >> the detectors and family

prepared to escape from that country. in august 2009 they boarded a train heading south with strict instructions. >> they told us we cannot take anything especially not a cell phone because if you get captured they would trace all of the numbers and trk down all of the people that helped you. >> the family spent a week on the train heading toward loose. laos. >> the china laos border is a tough hike. >> we arrived in south korean m embassy they gave us temporary housing. >> the detector's new life after a year and a half on the road to freedom had begun. >> when you arrived at international airport and stepped on korean soil for the firs time what was going through your mind? >> from will moiinute i arrived gave a shout of joy.

now i can finally beet. -- breathe. >> makes it all worth it. >> coming up kim juong-il purge the military to

>> what was going through your mind when you held your citizenship for the first time?

>> it was a strange feeling to be a citizen. >> he and his family are adjust to go life and freedom. sadly the same month they arrived in seoul his 7-year-old daughter died of an unknown infecti infection. >> as a parent i always think about the things that i couldn't give her and that weighs heavily on my mind. >> sad ending to a long, long journey. >> there are so many mixed emotions for refugees to come out of china to south korea. >> three generations of the kim family maintained an iron grip on the isolated society of the north but it has not been completely inpen et trabl. >> balloons have been going over the wall since the korean war. they dropped leaflets telling people about what life was like in south korea. >> one of the women i interviewed her job was to pick up anti north korean

information. i asked her why would you stop to pick the leaflets up? because the regime taught me if i touched anything from south korea with my hands they would rot and fall off. >> today the balloons have gone high-tech they are often gps guided and can drop the information they contain at a more targeted area. >> technology is starting to crack open the hermit kingdom. >> the cell phones and internet and other things that are giving them windows to the outside world. they take them past the slightest civilization that may well be that makes a much more radical change than he and political elites have been willing to accept. >> the north korean power elite and military have too much

invested in the repression of their society. >> it appears kim juong-un has heard some of his father's generals. paul was often seen along side the new leader and mysteriously fired from all of his duties in july of 2012. other powerful figures remain. another seen at kim jong-il's funeral is the general secretary of the korean worker's party. he is the man who over saw the development of north korea's nuclear bombs. >> there has been little indication that he is willing to open the country up. he certainly hasn't stopped the country's nuclear missiles program. the crack down on the people internally still continues. >> as long as it does. organizations like crossing borders will be there to help.

>> what does your faith mean? >> it has to having do. we believe god created people just the same as god created even our korean refugees. >> we have the ability to change lives. i would do it all over again because it is very rewarding. >> man koreans look to the future with many are unified. >> every north korean wish for that day. >> coming up the medical mystery that almost destroyed a famous hollywood actress. >> this left undiagnosed like i have been for years creates havoc. >> this tough as nails hockey player. >> the disease began to really take a hol plains

states will get warm weather.

>> what does a famous hollywood actress, a tough fearless hockey player, and a woman who grew up in the 1930s have in common? they are all in the center of a medical mystery that may effect 3 million people in the united states. we begin with jennifer esposito's story. >> you are a new york girl all of the way. >> born in brooklyn and raised in staten island. i wanted to come to the city and start my acting career. >> growing up in a middle class family actress jennifer esposito caught everyone's attention with television shows like "spin city" to award winning films like "crash" and most recent work on cbs's "blue blood." while her hole skood sthollywoo was riding she suffered from an illness that slowly debilitated

her. >> when did you realize something was wrong? >> when i was a teenager i had p problems with getting colds and infections sinus infections all of the time. so much so i was hospitalized with monday no. >> she would suffer and as a family we would say okay, she is sick again. >> susan russo is jennifer's older sister. >> as a young age she suffered with stomach issues, she had mood swing, she had anxiety, no answers. >> how many tests, doctors visits are we talking about? hundreds, thousands? >> i couldn't say the number of tests between colonoscopies, berrien enemas. >> when you were growing up jen was the sister saying something is wrong with me, did it take a toll on you and your family? >> yes. we didn't have aen understanding of it because none of the doctors she had gone to came up

with a proper diagnosis. >> the money i have spent in trying to make people listen and i would sit with therapists over and over. but every time they would give me prozac or xanax and i would say, but that's not it. there is something else going on. >> as her career soared jennifer still struggled with her health. it was after 19 long agonizing years a doctor finally gave her an accurate diagnosis. >> i was so ill i could barely walk in there. i think she really saw something. two-days after that she had called and said, you have celiac disease. you have the highest case i have ever seen and i do not know how you are going on like this. i had no idea what she was talking about. >> here's the question what was

celiac disease? >> an auto immune disease like having diabetes or multiple scleros sclerosis. >> the doctor is at the forefront of celiac research. he's director of the center for celiac research at mass general hospital for children. there are studies that show one percent of the population or 1 in 133 people in the united states have the disease yet only a small fraction know they have it. >> we don't know what makes people sick. it is undisputed moment is -- (inaudible). >> what is gluten? that's what we hear more than anything. >> it is the most abundant protein in grains like wheat, rye and barley and they are unable to completely digest this

protein. that is when it creates problems. >> when you have celiac disease the gluten has damaged or killed the villi. it surrounds the small intestines and is what is used to autos the nutrients from the food. when they get damaged or die it's like you are starving yourself and not absorbing the nutrients. it's like a small hole in the gut where when i eat and when i digest anything that slips through those holes and goes into the bloodstream my auto immune system feels like it's getting attacked so it attacks it. >> where is the biggest source of gluten in our diet? >> typical source, bread, pasta, pizza, beer, bagels, this ideology is source. the other thing that makes it even more complicated is gluten is used as a filler. it's a wonderful natural filler

that you mix in prepacked foods. >> wheat gluten. >> great stuff but your body can't tolerate it. >> the baby didn't have colic? he had celiac disease? >> besides celiac disease there are two forms of it one is gluten wheat allergy and another is gluten sensitivity. >> christina's disease she had a blood test. simple screening test they are very, very good to identify. >> do you think he got to that point because poor thing spent time before getting diagnosis. >> when diagnosed going gluten free takes longer than expected to go back to a normal life. her body took a major hit.

>> here she is she is a successful actress but she is being difficult. the woman's body is collapsing from the inside out. >> she was a very successful young women in that kind of business and people have told her and told her you are too finicky>> what are the symptoms if someone has xyz that's when you demand your doctor and check me to celiac disease. >> the conditions can go from bloating to diarrhea, consultation to no stomach issues which is tricky for most people. i say whenever you sur mountable feeling of exhaustion there's something going on. if you think there's a possibility you have to you need

to get a proper diagnosis. this left undiagnosed creates havoc, the place that i am in now. >> today with more people being diagnosed with celiac disease the market for gluten free products have exploded. >> if you look at the markets, the markets were roughly $100 million. >> this year alone is valued at $4.2 billion. a gluten free lifestyle isn't cheap. >> i do not leave the health food market with under $100. i probably go food shopping 3 or 4 times a week. >> that's just for you? >> that's just for me. fresh fruit and vegetables i buy organi organic. it's expense sieve. >> we were there when his battle for celiac disease made headlines. what does this hockey player and

hmm. [cell phone beeps] hey! [police whistle blows] [horns honking] woman: hey! [bicycle bell rings] turn here. there. excuse me. uh. uh. [indistinct announcement on p.a. system]

so, same time next week? well, of course. announcer: put away a few bucks. feel like a million bucks. for free tips to help you save, go to ♪ feed the pig >> he scores! >> it was like somebody took a veil off my face like a mask that came off. wow, there's a whole world out

here. >> mickey redmond is no stranger to pain. he won two stanley cups playing for the montreal canadiens. he ended his career top goal scorer for the detroit red wings. he's also the voice of red wings hockey for fox sports detroit. he has been a broadcaster for 33 years. >> when were you finally diagnosed with celiac? >> i remember going to many different doctors, and at the time we are talking the early 70s they would say you have got this, this or this or this over here. i said what is this over here? that was we don't know. as it turns out 20-years later and around 1994 i got diagnosed with celiac. >> going back to when you were younger in your 20s i think you said you had symptoms. what was going on? >> the lifestyle we led as professional athletes in those

days wasn't exactly a lifestyle that would be copyed by a lot of people or should be. there was cigarettes involved and, you know, a few beers and you are not supposed to feel real good when you do stuff like that. as a result you get used to feeling poorly. >> what clued you in? this is a little bit beyond i am a hockey player sore we are drinking beer. >> the disease began to really take a hold of me. i broke out. it turned badly. that was the later stages of it when you get really bad and sensitive to it. i was sleeping a lot. >> as he experienced early on gluten was found in other products besides food. >> with celiac everything gets digested it is potentially dangerous. you have to worry about mouthwash, toothpaste, shampoo all of those things.

i remember 6 months later saying in the bathroom getting sick. i am clean as a whistle. i grabbed a bottle of might have been list reason or something like that. i went, wow. the alcohol, whatever, depends on the source and all that. >> just like mickey jennifer is always careful with what she eats which for her is even more challenging. fox files accompanied her on a visit with her doctor. >> it will be your oral gees in addition to the celiac gluten and dairy. he can tell you we have almonds, beef, chocolate, egg yolk, bananas, broccoli, peanuts, onion cod fish soybeans and barley, wheat and all of the other gluten raised. >> she is creating gluten free

recipes and has her own bakery. >> oh my god. anybody? >> chocolate chip cookies. >> i love these cookies. i swear to god. >> well done. >> thank you. >> can we do the cookie dance? >> after i make some and i can eat, i am like, woo. think about it. someone said to you you can never have this for the rest of your life. never. >> i would be done. >> in a weird twist of fate they didn't know they had something in common with this woman? >> i was born in 1936 and came to the hospital when i was 9 months old. >> meet barbara also known as a banana baby. she was one of the first reported cases at the university of maryland where they treated children with the miss tear why yous symptoms that we now knew

of celiac disease? >> evidently i was having diarrhea, i was not gaining weight. they told my mother to bring me down to university hospital, drop me off, don't come see her for six weeks. i stayed for over nine months and the hospital became my home. >> after you left the hospital once they released you, what sort of diet did they put it on? >> baked bananas and bulgarian. the routine was they would make three bananas a day. one baumann gnaw for lunch and breakfast and dinner. >> how long did you stay on this diet? >> for about two. he said he would add other foods to my diet. he would add a different food each week and finally at the age of six i had my first ice cream

and milk. >> what did you think? >> i thought it was wonderful. >> why bananas? >> because they contain all of the nutrients and sol proteins that allow you to survive. >> jennifer, mickey and barbara had each shed life on the mystery of celiac disease. >> i tell you my day has been son sumed with between a blog, jennifer's way.org and a web site everything i can do to raise awareness. >> i spend a lot of time talking on the phone speaking to people. i am more than happy to help them get through the early stages ch this thing. >> if there's a good gluten free

res recipe i will pass it on to somebody else with celiac disease so they can have something fun to eat as well as being good for them. our

>> that's jennifer esposito on "blue bloods." when fox files interviewed her about celiac there was turmoil behind the scenes. in this statement: >> jennifer informed us she was able to work on a limited part-time schedule.

as a result she is unable to perform the demands of her roles and we had to put her character on a leave of absence. she is a wonderfully talented actress and we hope she will be able to return at some point in the future. >> jennifer sat down exclusively with fox files to give us her side of the story. >> when blue blood goes on on friday night twitter starts going crazy. someone released pictures of him and a new partner. they don't like that. people don't like change. especially with donnie and what happened was there was such a surge in where is jackie. jackie was trending not blue bloods, go jackie was trending. cbs the next day on a saturday at 5:00 put out a statement and i saw it and immediately was like, oh, really? no, no, no. i am begging them to let me out of my contractor let me work or pay me what you owe me. no, no. >> then she took to twitter with

her response. >> cbs knows put me on unpaid leave and blocked me from working anywhere else after my dock said you needed reduced schedule due to celiac. >> they have a job that needs to be done. i get it. you don't think i can do it in 2, 3 days i am offering in that work space of 8 days then i get it you have to replace me. but that's not what happened. what happened was ugliness. >> tell me the day you collapsed onset? >> got in the van and i fell asleep on the way to the set and i just felt my head spinning and i got out and i took two steps and my knees went down to the floor. caught myself on a fence. they brought me into the makeup room. they came in and said i will get the medic. there's nothing unless he can cure me of celiac disease this is we have been trying to tell

you, there is no medic right now. they had to carry me into the car and bring me to the doctor where i went and i was there for 7 hours. >> yjennifer where does it stan with you and cbs right now as we speak? >> last week i was told i am on suspension which meant i was in contract. they legally stopped paying. and i am not able to work on any other tv show on network. i can do a film or broadway or something on cable that doesn't go into the 10:00 time slot. they knew i didn't have the money or means to do this. i have been in the business for 20-years. there have been so many things of injustice that happens in this business. it is what you signed up for. it is what it is. this is something that is not

about me i feel. this is about a disease that people don't understand. what went on after it makes me sick. [ buzzer ] hot dog? i'm buying. i'll use my capital one venture card with double miles you can actually use to fly any airline anytime. ♪ what are you doing? i'm saving one for later. my body keeps it warm. it's like a little hot dog steamer in there. go ahead, touch my chest. no. ♪ what's in your wallet? you got any mustard in there? ♪