the spectre of another famine i has not stopped kim jong-il and from has not stopped kim jong—il andilding nuclear weapons. funding his limited finances into building nuclearweapons. kim building nuclear weapons. kim jong—un building nuclearweapons. kim jong—un —— put up the money he spent last year would have been enough according to some estimates to ensure the entire nation was properly fed. ensure the entire nation was properly fed-— ensure the entire nation was --roerl fed. .,, ., properly fed. people never wanted this endless _ properly fed. people never wanted this endless weapons _ properly fed. people never wanted | this endless weapons development that brings hardship to generation after generation. i want to live in after generation. i want to live in a society where we don't starve. where are my neighbours are alive. north koreans are more isolated than ever before. it's getting harder for them to survive and impossible to help them. jean mckenzie, bbc news. we did hear back from the north korean government, we put our findings to them and to our surprise they did respond

executing because in north korea, every classroom, every have their portraits of dictators kim il-sung, kim il, kim jong un and their wife. the middle. 90. they'll officers kick your door and come and see those cloth and wipe the portrait. there's a tiny bit scattered on that portrait. that's how you end up getting executed because your loyalty not good enough. and then you end up in a concentration camp. the first thing that you cannot do is why you are there. if you are them, why did i end up in a concentration camp? they executed on the spot and now with kim jong un, he decided that even bullets are too precious for the people of north korea. he using method of boxing in the mirror box put a human being in there and let them drain to death. that's how he kills people now in the 21st century. when i was growing up there, my only daily task was finding. as you can see, i'm pretty petty in my high horse. north are on average five inch shorter than koreans because of malnutrition and. i'm a mother. i have five year old boy right now. he's like 99%. i every way. and doctors confuse like, you're so small y

correspondent: there have been mumblings over the past few months that perhaps kim jong-il is per -- to open the border and ultimate we do not know and of course there is the chance that these border closures could continue for many years and we have to really is that kim jong-un has not necessarily done this because of the pandemic and every other country in the world has not reopened its borders. certainly i think this started because of the pandemic but as time has gone on kim jong-un has used the covid pandemic almost as an excuse i think to tighten his grip over his people and isolate them from the world and to shut the world out and if he were to reopen the border he is going to have to let back in the eight workers and diplomats and let the eyes of the world see what is happening in the country and it may well be that during best period of extreme closure that he has decided that it is better without the eyes of the world in north korea. anchor: jean mackenzie, our correspondent and so, korea, thank you for your reporting. we put the bbc's finding to the north korean governmen

there have been some l murmurs over the past few months that perhaps kim jong—il murmurs over the paste and half years now and every other country has long opened its border since the pandemic. but this is north kimjong—un korea and we never know. ——. it could keep this way for years to come. now kim jong—un has made this decision to keep the borders and inflicting suffering and these hardships on people as a result of these closures. i think he will be weighing up at the moment what to do because if he does decide to open the borders, that means letting people back into country, letting foreign diplomats back in and aid workers and allowing people to see what is happening. if things are as bad as our interviewees have told us that they are then will he want the rest of the world to see that? that is the question i'm sure he's asking. ih is the question i'm sure he's askinu. , ., , is the question i'm sure he's askinu. ,., , , is the question i'm sure he's askin. i, �* asking. in terms of why people can't feed themselves _ asking. in terms of why people can't feed themselves in _ askin

. >> to appearances such as her emmy nominated recurring role in 30 rock playing kim jong-il. she knew from an early age growing up in san francisco, comedy was her calling. >> it was just a recognition more than anything that it was what i would grow up to be. i think a lot of people have those feelings when playing as a kid, like i want to be a fireman or a lawyer. i had those kinds of really childhood aspirations to be a comedian. but it was a very visceral knowledge of this is my job. oddly because i was not a class clown. >> who were here early influences? >> joan rivers ultimately, because she was so incredibly elegant but also crass. she was finding a way to be crass, which is pretty incredible in the 70's. for women and in comedy. and for television the way it was. >> she was one of your mentors. some of the advice she once gave you is we are the type of girls who don't find our place when young. the funny ones, the odd ones, the weirdos. we are seeing a little later. >> she was very right about how we become more and more visible the older we get, and she would say to

in the late 1990s, when kim jong—un's father, kimjong—il, was in power, as many as 3 million people diedfamine known as the arduous march. newsreader: the red cross estimates that. almost half of north korean babies will die before they're five. the north korean economy had collapsed, meaning state could no longer provide its people with food. newsreader: a succession of bad harvests and disastrous floods - mean north korea is desperately short of food. many now rely on international aid to survive. people quickly learned not to depend on the government for food. they started smuggling things in from china to sell at markets. ever since, most north koreans have depended on this unofficial trade. when the border was closed, this lifeline was severed. with the restrictions, in general, that have been increased, that is really worrying, then, for north korean people's ability to fend for themselves. before the border closure, people would attempt to flee the country by secretly crossing into china. more than 1,000 made it out each year. but kim jong—un has spent the past three years buildin

of ukraine, whether it's a aspirations of the iso will arrive, to build nuclear lines, but it is kim jong-il and what you, or vladimir putin or presidents xi, is easy to see the threats are not getting more and more serious which means a sequestration of the apartment spending my operation of law is unacceptable . so senators on both sides want, members want to make changes to improve the. as i said is that should not be cut out of the process to you president biden's driving. we still have time before the january deadline and the second will in the process. we could do it today we have ample time to vote on amendments and send them back to the house or final passage. and i have there's no reason for the majority leader to block them". saturdays are the most on this will be majority leader will not stand in the way of said on both sides of the. want to offer amendments and then receive or down votes this bill does include very positive developments ranging in our nation's spending is not a magic pill is your wife financial trouble. is $1.47 debt decades. so is unreasonable to expect to turn