Kim Jong Un: The Psychology of a Tyrant | North Korea: Inside the Mind of a Dictator MEGA Episode

♪ ♪ (galloping) NARRATOR: This is Kim Jong-un, ruler of North Korea. He's just 36 years old, but he commands the world's fourth largest military. He has nuclear weapons, and his family has ruled over their people using violence and terror for over 70 years. But Kim is a man torn between two worlds. The traditions of his brutal communist past, and the need to become a legitimate, modern leader. LEE: That is his dilemma. Am I going to come out and become a cleaner, softer dictator? Or am I going to continue to retain this criminal regime that I inherited from my grandfather and my father? And that dilemma, you know what, it could be the end of the Kim dynasty. (applause) (cheering) NARRATOR: Kim Jong-un is only the third man to rule North Korea. He is following his grandfather, and father, in the role of Supreme Leader. They rule over their people as gods. (applause and cheering stop) (explosion) In the 10th year of his rule, Kim Jong-un is at a crossroads. He's a dictator with a decision to make. Should he try to drag North Korea into the modern world, and become a legitimate country, but risk losing his grip on power, or should he continue to run a rogue state, like his grandfather and father before him? LEE: If I compare it to a movie, I would say it's Godfather 3, and that's when Michael Corleone wants to become a legitimate businessman and head of a business conglomerate out from the shadows of the mafia regime that he inherited. But without the mafia state, the Kim regime would not function. Why? Because it's under heavy sanctions, the only way that it can make hard currency is by illicit trade. The North Korean regime is in many respects a huge criminal cartel. NARRATOR: Guns, drugs, counterfeit cash, and cyber-crime bring in an estimated $2 billion a year for Kim to spend. LEE: That's his personal piggy bank, and that is the way Kim Jong-un's regime is sustained. NARRATOR: Recently Kim has shown signs of modernizing. He's been stepping out with his first lady. And meeting other world leaders. But in 2017 he was dragged back into his family business. This is his elder half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, who was overlooked for succession. He left North Korea for a quiet life in China. Surfacing on camera from time to time to speak out against the regime. But then it seemed Kim Jong-nam crossed a line. FIFIELD: During the course of my reporting I was told by a person with good connections to the intelligence community in the United States that Kim Jong-nam had, in fact, been an informant to the CIA and was supplying information about Kim Jong-un to them. NARRATOR: These CCTV images show him meeting his suspected handler. A fascinated news media shadowed his every move. FIFIELD: He still had very good connections to the regime, so for the CIA to be able to recruit Kim Jong-nam as an informant and to get whatever information he had, that would have been a huge deal for them. This would also have been considered very treasonous by Kim Jong-un. NARRATOR: It seems the time had come for Kim to deal with his older brother. February 13th 2017. Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Kim Jong-un's brother enters the terminal, unaware that two female assassins are also at the airport. Now, for the first time on television, one of the assassins tells her full extraordinary story. MAN: Camera check. NARRATOR: It begins with her being recruited by a man who claimed to be a TV producer. NARRATOR: For months, Kim Jong-un's agents groomed Siti and another young woman to ambush unsuspecting members of the public and smother their faces with cosmetic creams, in what they thought were hidden camera show stunts. NARRATOR: Siti's handler arranges a meeting a café in the airport. There she is to receive details of the target. NARRATOR: This time, it isn't baby oil, but a deadly nerve agent. As Kim Jong-un's brother heads to his flight, the two women make their move. NARRATOR: Seeking help, Kim Jong-nam heads for the airport's medical facility. MADDEN: So at this point Kim Jong-nam is in the infirmary, and he is behind the door, and this is where this image gets very scary. There's a gentleman in all black, walking near this door, okay, and he's got a rolling suitcase. He's checking in to make sure that Kim Jong-nam is receiving medical treatment. This is one of the operatives. It's a very elaborate operation, it's very old-school. NARRATOR: The operation plays out like a Cold War spy caper. There are lookout men. A chemist, to handle the nerve agent. A getaway driver. And a team leader, codenamed Grandpa. The young women have no idea what they've done. (sirens) They are soon apprehended by the local Malaysian police. (speaking in native language) NARRATOR: The trial creates shock-waves around the world. TEIK: She had been charged for the most serious crime in the country, the crime of murder. For the offense of murder, there's only one punishment, and that is death, by hanging. NARRATOR: Soon, the chemist of the gang is also apprehended. He is caught on camera getting his story straight with North Korean embassy officials. NARRATOR: This video evidence helped to build a picture of a ruthless political assassination. Both women were released after spending two years in prison. NARRATOR: Kim Jong-un's troublesome older brother was no more. PAK: Kim Jong-un's half-brother died in such a terrible, humiliating way, on camera, and Kim probably was very pleased that he was able to watch all of this. NARRATOR: Amid sobering scenes broadcast around the world, Kim Jong-nam's body is brought back to North Korea. It's accompanied by the same men spotted in the airport on the day he was murdered. PAK: It was absolutely to send a message, to do it in such a public way, to everybody in North Korea and elsewhere, that Kim will find you. (applause and cheering) To understand Kim Jong-un, it's helpful to know the world he grew up in. Deep beneath the surface of North Korea, his father created an elaborate hidden kingdom that his children inhabited. MADDEN: North Korea has a separate parallel geography that exists outside of anything North Korean citizens would know about. It's a secret network that includes roads, railways and tunnel systems. It's a way of concealing Kim's whereabouts from spy satellites. Currently we're looking at Kim Jong-un's Kangdong VIP complex. Kangdong Complex is one of the favorite complexes of the Kim family. Kim Jong-un spent a lot of time there as a child. So this is a portal tunnel, we can see the tunnel entrance. As a road that goes under the Taedong River. So what Kim Jong-un could do is, instead of going across that bridge, he would go through that tunnel, and that tunnel would take him under the Taedong River, into tunnels under mountains, to some unknown locale, and I call it the "Road to Nowhere". NARRATOR: It's believed there are some 8,000 tunnels in North Korea, reaching up to 1,000 feet below the surface. Some tunnels are thought to extend more than 30 miles, including an emergency escape route into China. MADDEN: So basically, Kim Jong-un can work in his office, take an elevator to a sub-basement level, get into a small motorcade, drive underground, and that explains a lot about Kim Jong-un's personality. Kim Jong-un grew up like that. This has been his entire life. NARRATOR: The early years of Kim Jong-un's childhood indoctrinated him in the ways of the Kim dynasty. FIFIELD: Kim Jong-un grew up in this extremely dysfunctional, paranoid, secretive family. It was impossible for Kim Jong-un to be a normal child. He was named the Little General. He had a real Colt pistol. You know, he had real generals bowing to him. NARRATOR: His father was Kim Jong-il, one of the most notorious dictators in history. A man with a passion for banquets, cognac and Bond movies. MADDEN: Kim Jong-il was generally paranoid. Round this period of time for Kim Jong-un, there's a lot of restrictions on his movements and activity, and they have to bring in playmates. Well, you'd think they'd bring in other seven or eight year old children, but you're starting to talk about 30 or 40 year old bodyguards. And so Kim Jong-un grows up very close to his bodyguards, because these are his playmates. NARRATOR: Of all Kim Jong-il's bodyguards, only one is known to have escaped North Korea. NARRATOR: The bodyguard also remembers the current NARRATOR: Today Kim Jong-un still surrounds himself with these bodyguards. He has expanded the program, adding an elite unit to handle internal threats. MADDEN: The guys that protect him, despite the fact that they wear suits, these people are very similar to SAS or Navy SEALs in terms of their skills and training. They inspect his food. If you had a sack of rice, that sack of rice is scrutinized and inspected for any irregular grains, and so every bag of rice is a perfect bag of rice. They bring his toilet, there is a portable toilet, because they don't want a foreign intelligence agency getting a hold of his feces and then analyzing the blood contents for whatever diseases he might have. NARRATOR: So Kim Jong-un's psychology is deeply rooted in his father's totalitarian regime. But there is another side to Kim's experience, his school days in the West. NARRATOR: Kim Jong-un is changing his country with a new style of leadership. It includes photo ops, North Korean style. Many think he's been influenced by the time he spent as a teenager in Switzerland. (bell ringing) Living in the care of his maternal aunt and uncle, Kim Jong-un attended a regular public school in Bern. KOVACEVIC: My name is Nikola Kovacevic, and, well, I know Kim Jong-un from my school in Switzerland. So this is pretty much Un as I remember him, wearing a typical sports outfit, very American. He was wearing Chicago Bulls shirts, shorts, and Michael Jordan shoes. We were quite impressed by that. We were playing basketball and Un was looking for people to play with. I'll never forget him with a, you know, cheeky smile on his face, you know, at the basketball court. We pretty much just played constantly. He was very, very passionate. You could clearly see that he wants to win. He was very good, very quick. He was on a completely different level than you might think, by looking at the pictures from today. We all liked having him on our team. We did have interesting chats about North Korea. There was one occasion where I was just asking something like, how is it there? And I remember him saying that North Korea is very, very advanced. It's going to be a big player in the future. You can definitely say that he was proud of his country. FIFIELD: He really enjoyed kind of the life of being a rich kid in Europe. He saw NBA games in Paris, he went off skiing in the Swiss Alps. NARRATOR: But back in North Korea there are changes inside the family. Kim Jong-un's mother is dying of cancer, which means Kim's aunt and uncle are about to lose their connection to the dynasty. Fearing they may be cast aside, they decide to act. Slipping out of the house under cover of darkness, his aunt and uncle take refuge in the US Embassy. Claiming political asylum, they are spirited away to a military base in Germany. was at home. They did not say goodbye. They left him in the middle of the night. It must have been an extremely traumatic experience for Kim Jong-un, to be abandoned like that. NARRATOR: After debriefing by the CIA, Kim's aunt and uncle are given new identities, flown to the US, and vanish from sight. FIFIELD: For the past 20 years they have been living this completely anonymous life in middle America, running a dry-cleaners. So nobody knows their true identities. NARRATOR: But journalist Anna Fifield tracked them down and arranged a meeting. FIFIELD: I did not expect them to show up, and even like that morning when they called to say they were on their way to where we had agreed to meet, you know, I was surprised when they showed up. Kim Jong-un's aunt walked into the café, like I caught my breath because she looked exactly like her sister, Kim Jong-un's mother. And I spent the entire weekend with them, talking about Kim Jong-un, about, you know, what he was like as a child. And they described him as a normal kid who was a little bit misunderstood. Quite strange. I distinctly remember sitting on the couch there with them. At the time Kim Jong-un was launching missiles. REPORTER (over TV): The projectile was fired from a 2,000-ton submarine, and South Korean military officials believe the missile's rocket booster did ignite. FIFIELD: There's Kim Jong-un in a submarine, looking at missiles. And the uncle said, they never say anything good about him. never completes his studies in Europe. Aged 17, he is recalled to North Korea. Within a decade, Kim will find himself the supreme leader of the most repressive dictatorship on earth. FIFIELD: He had lived in the West, he had seen freedom up close, so when he took over, a lot of people thought that he would be a reformer. (speaking in native language). FIFIELD: And in fact, early on in his tenure he stood up and he said that North Koreans would never have to tighten their belts again. FIFIELD: So if he wants to remain in power for decades, he can't just hold on like his father did. He really has to show an improvement in the standard of living inside North Korea. NARRATOR: Kim Jong-un is the only ruler of North Korea to have lived in the West, and his time in Switzerland left its mark on the supreme leader. JEAN LEE: Kim Jong-un, in the early years of his rule, I saw this desire for his country to be more worldly, for his people to be more worldly. NARRATOR: In 2012, Kim ordered the construction of a ski resort near his capital, Pyongyang. More alpine centers followed, complete with all the apres-ski perks. JEAN LEE: I was one of the first foreigners to visit. A little piece of Switzerland in North Korea. I could see the wheels turning in Kim Jong-un's head. Around that time there was a lot of hope and speculation that this would be a moment for a very different type of North Korea. (excited screaming) NARRATOR: Kim builds his citizens theme parks and shopping malls, all in the name of North Korea's bright economic future. PAK: So we see the development of things like amusement parks, high end restaurants, department stores, all of these things are also part of the Kim brand. It's designed to show his people that Kim is going to move the country forward. NARRATOR: In the drive to re-brand his kingdom, Kim has an ally, his celebrity wife. FIFIELD: Ri Sol-ju was a famous singer in North Korea. She would be instantly recognizable to any North Korean who's ever watched TV. (singing in native language). NARRATOR: In 2018 Kim changes his wife's official title from Comrade to First Lady. FIFIELD: She has a very distinct role. She's very much like the Kate Middleton of North Korea. She is there to humanize her husband, but also the two of them together are supposed to be a kind of modern, aspirational couple. They're showing the future of North Korea. NARRATOR: Leading North Korea into the future presents Kim with another challenge. In a digital age, shaped by the internet and social media, Kim is under pressure to ensure his people aren't left behind. JEAN LEE: If he's going to rule for decades to come, he has to build his loyalty base. He wants to woo his generation. So he started experimenting with internet access, expanding cell phone access. Those were all monumental changes for a country like North Korea. NARRATOR: Recently Kim has gone further, authorizing North Korea's very own social media stars. JEAN LEE: They even have their own influencers now. JEAN LEE: What they are portraying is a socialist fairyland. It's just absolutely amazing. And it's so carefully cultivated. JEAN LEE: Their role is to seduce people to fall in love with the country. It's a smart strategy. But on the other hand, access to information is one of the most dangerous things for a leader like Kim Jong-un, because if people see what life is like outside North Korea, the illusion could be broken. And that of course, for Kim Jong-un, is terrifying. NARRATOR: For 75 years the Kim family has relied on strength and terror for their survival. As Kim Jong-un attempts to transform himself from god-like tyrant to an approachable human leader, he needs back-up within the family to maintain the dynasty's grip on power. But who can he rely on? MADDEN: Around 2001, Kim Jong-un's father takes a train across Russia. The Russian ambassador's having conversations with him and he asks him about succession, and he asked Kim Jong-il, who are your favorites as successor? And Kim Jong-il said, "Well my sons are all idle blockheads." Okay, "It's my daughters that have the heart and intellect and mindset to be in politics." NARRATOR: Born four years after Kim Jong-un, in 1988 Kim Yo-jong is nicknamed "The Sweet Princess". Until the death of her father in 2011, Kim Yo-jong's existence was a closely guarded secret, even inside North Korea. MADDEN: After Kim Jong-il died, with the succession of her brother, there was probably a conversation, do you want to do this? Do you want to be involved in the nitty-gritty of North Korean politics? Some people don't have the ice in their veins to do it. Some people do. She said yes, and that's where we find ourselves today. NARRATOR: Quietly, Kim Yo-jong rose through the ranks to become her brother's propaganda chief. In 2018, he deployed his sister on her first foreign assignment, a mission inside enemy territory. FIFIELD: It was a really huge occasion when Kim Yo-jong arrived into South Korea, because she was the only member of the Kim family who had arrived in the south since the Korean War ended in 1953. So, it was a really big deal. NARRATOR: The occasion was the Winter Olympics, dubbed the "Peace Olympics", as athletes from North and South Korea competed together for the first time. FIFIELD: There was an ice hockey game where the two Korean teams joined together as one, and she was in the stands, in the VIP section. I was able to walk down to see her in the flesh. She was very kind of enigmatic. She always had this kind of sphinx-like smile on her face. She said very little, so she became a real object of fascination at that time amongst South Koreans. NARRATOR: But Kim's sister hasn't just come south of the border to show face. With the eyes of the world on her, she opens peace talks with the South Korean leadership. Kim Yo-jong is becoming indispensable to the family firm. MADDEN: She is the one that approves all the media, in press and writing that comes out in English in North Korea. Any piece of paper and any email that gets directed to Kim Jong-un, is most likely viewed by her. And that's a critical thing to have. NARRATOR: The Sweet Princess isn't only Kim Jong-un's right-hand woman. Recently she's become a deadly player in her own right. MADDEN: I believe there have been people that have been shot on the orders of Kim Yo-jong. That's Kim Yo-jong's psychology. She's a shark. NARRATOR: In a sign of her growing power, in 2020 Kim Jong-un promotes his sister over his own generals, to the highest level of the Politburo. GARLAUSKAS: Kim Yo-jong's prominence has dramatically increased in 2020. The thing that's most striking is she's gone from a role of being in the background, to actually being a voice of the regime. NARRATOR: Kim's sister goes on the attack, threatening South Korean activists who continue to drop propaganda leaflets over the border. GARLAUSKAS: She is the only individual who has been able to put out a personal opinion in North Korean state media. Even the leader himself very rarely is going to express any sort of personal opinion. This means that she has a unique, special and privileged role in the North Korean regime. NARRATOR: Amid rising tensions between North and South Korea, in June 2020, Kim Yo-jong sends South Korea a message. Blowing up the government complex used for talks between the two sides. REPORTER (over TV): Korean experts say the explosion was designed to cement the growing power of Pyongyang's leader Kim Jong-un's younger sister, Kim Yo-jong. In recent years state media has referred to her as a central party cadre, indicating her tightening grip on power. This year she took over some of her brother's roles in party affairs and foreign relations. Sources suggest she is now the real power-holder in Pyongyang. GARLAUSKAS: Now she is continually, even outside of her actual rank and position, bashing South Korea and the United States. This is a role that normally is reserved only for the supreme leader. It's classic North Korean provocation. NARRATOR: It seems Kim is on his way to resolving his dilemma, how to modernize the country without losing control. The answer? A dual dictatorship. His sister keeps order with the traditional tools, fear, aggression and discipline. While Kim reinvents himself as a modern politician with a kinder, gentler image. MADDEN: We have to remember, when we're talking about Kim Jong-un, his main aspiration and his main focus as a leader right now, is resetting the North Korean political system so that he becomes more above the fray, and doesn't necessarily have to sign off on any individual public execution. YOUNG-GUK: Kim Jong-un does not want to be seen as a person who criticizes and bad-mouths other leaders. So he leaves the dirty work in some respects for Kim Yo-jong to do. MADDEN: Kim Yo-jong is the bad cop. Kim Jong-un gets to look like a cool-headed leader. NARRATOR: But in his bid to secure the dynasty and hang onto power, Kim is only halfway to the summit. To transform North Korea into a truly modern society, he must step onto the global stage and bring an end to seven decades of isolation from the outside world. (chanting in native language) world's most dangerous dictator. Boss of a ruthless communist dynasty that has ruled North Korea for 75 years. FIFIELD: There is this perception that he is a cartoon character, kind of, "Dr. Evil" villain, right? But Kim Jong-un really is no joke. He is a ruthless dictator hell bent on staying in power. NARRATOR: Early in his rule, Kim Jong-un wiped out his enemies, then supercharged his nuclear arsenal. But Kim's greatest challenge lies ahead. The world is changing. To survive, Kim must change with it, and bring his country into the modern age. JEAN LEE: How far can he stray from what his father and his grandfather have created? In trying to portray himself as a modern leader, without losing control? More provocations from the rogue nation of North Korea, as new reports surface that Pyongyang is preparing for its next nuclear test. REPORTER 2 (over TV): North Korea is showing the world its new intercontinental ballistic missile. REPORTER 3 (over TV): This comes after President Trump said a major conflict with North Korea is possible. TRUMP (over PA): Little Rocket Man. We can't have madmen out there shooting rockets all over the place. (countdown) NARRATOR: In 2017, Kim Jong-un achieved his family's longstanding ambition. Developing a nuclear missile capable of striking North Korea's mortal enemy, the United States. PAK: My name is Jung Pak, I used to work at the CIA on Korea issues. The premier product that we would produce, is the President's daily brief, which I wrote often. The toughest part is leadership intentions. When it comes to what's in somebody's mind, that is the most difficult part. I spent my entire career trying to crawl inside Kim Jong-un's head. What we learned is that, not only was he an apt student of the legacy of his grandfather and father, but that he was also bigger, badder and bolder in terms of how aggressive he was. The missiles and his weapons are now more powerful, more dangerous, more reliable, and more mobile, and that's what makes North Korea under Kim Jong-un a much scarier place and a much scarier adversary. NARRATOR: But Kim has a problem. Cut off from the outside world, his country's economy is on its knees. JEAN LEE: North Korea has been facing US sanctions since the Korean War, and they've just gotten progressively tougher and tougher. So it's a real struggle, I think, for Kim Jong-un to push his country forward. This is a country that has chronic food shortage, is isolated from the outside world. Kim Jong-un knows that in the long run it's untenable for him to provide for his people. NARRATOR: To bring his country into the modern age and maintain his grip on power, Kim must lift the US-led sanctions banning international trade with North Korea. In 2018, he makes his opening move. PRESIDENT TRUMP (over PA): On June 12th in Singapore, I'll be meeting with Kim Jong-un to pursue a future of peace and security for the world, for the whole world. NARRATOR: In 2018, Kim leaves Korea for only the third time as leader, for an historic meeting with President Trump in Singapore. (cheering and overlapping chatter) JEAN LEE: The Singapore summit, it really was his big debut internationally. Kim Jong-un's coming out. Those were incredible scenes. I think that's a very telling example of the image that he wants to portray to his people. He's saying, actually I'm very charming, I'm funny, I'm flexible and spontaneous and it's completely the reverse of what we may have thought of the North Korean leader. NARRATOR: In Singapore, North Korea's reclusive dictator takes his first steps on the world stage. BOLTON: I'm John Bolton, I was a National Security Advisor for President Trump. For me, it was almost surreal to think that this was actually happening. A mistake in my view, but it was a historic first. (camera shutters clicking) BOLTON: It was very clear in the meeting that Kim was very much in control. He was observing Trump very carefully. BOLTON: Early in the meeting Kim asked Trump, What do you think of me?' Just testing people like that, that shows a level of confidence. I mean, what do you think of me, is an invitation to say, you're a tyrannical dictator oppressing 25 million people, and I don't a trust a word you say. That would've been an accurate answer, but it could've been a meeting stopper. PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much everybody. Thank you. REPORTER: How's the meeting going so far, sir? BOLTON: But of course, Trump gave him a very glowing review, he was smart and so on and so forth. REPORTER: Any progress Mr. President? PRESIDENT TRUMP: Excellent relationship, thank you. Thank you very much. NARRATOR: Kim comes prepared with a strategy for dealing with the American President. JEAN LEE: There's a kind of magic that can happen when these two leaders get together. And I have to say, what I saw, it looked like a bromance. The North Koreans studied whatever they could to try to understand how President Trumps thinks. His psychology, how to flatter him. And actually, the North Koreans know how to do that very-very well. Kim Jong-un sent an envoy with a massive handwritten letter. North Korea is very old school in a sense. They're not gonna send email attachments, they're very formal. It was something that charmed President Trump that he got this massive, BOLTON: It was kind of a rambling conversation. I was mostly worried that Trump not give away too much. But there was discussion about joint South Korean-US war games, as Trump called them, which he agreed to give up. It was a concession to Kim that none of us on the US side knew was coming. PRESIDENT TRUMP: Okay. BOLTON: It obviously made Kim very happy. PRESIDENT TRUMP: Thank you very much, that's fantastic. I was really being tough and so was he. And we would go back and forth, and then we fell in love okay? No really. He wrote me beautiful letters, and they're great letters. We fell in love. NARRATOR: Kim had begun to reinvent himself as a legitimate world leader. He returns to his people a conquering hero. JEAN LEE: The United States is North Korea's chief adversary. It is the central enemy. So if Kim can stand shoulder to shoulder with the US President, that is, of itself, a kind of victory. JEAN LEE: Kim Jong-un can tell his people, we are taken seriously by the most powerful leader in the world. FIFIELD: During the course of 2018, Kim Jong-un has proven himself to be very savvy and calculating in the way he has dealt with the outside world. Luring Donald Trump out. Kim Jong-un kind of set off a race to meet him. Xi Jinping in China. Nobody wanted to be left out. We suddenly saw this huge flurry of summits taking place and it seemed like all of the leaders wanted to meet with Kim Jong-un. LEE: North Korea is a very impoverished country, but it has nuclear weapons. Kim Jong-un can blow up half the planet if he chooses to, in a major war. And that's what gives him a huge leverage that otherwise he would never have. When he met Putin in Russia, Putin is very famous for meeting leaders across the world, very-very late. Well, in Vladivostok, it was Putin who waited for Kim Jong-un. He wants to show the world that you know what, even between friends, we have the upper hand. NARRATOR: But opening his secretive Hermit Kingdom to the outside world, carries dangers At the start of his rule, he encouraged foreigners to set up businesses in special trading zones near the Chinese border. One of the first outsiders to arrive, was South Korean-born US citizen, Kim Dong-chul. Kim Dong-chul passed secrets to the CIA for four years. Before he was betrayed by an informant and arrested. Kim Jong-un makes a very public example of his captive. The agent was sentenced to ten years hard labor. He had become a pawn in an international chess game between Kim and the West. Two years later, Kim meets with US hostage negotiators to build on his warming relationship with President Trump. And we do have breaking news right now. President Trump Tweeting moments ago that three detained Americans have been released from North Korea. NARRATOR: In releasing his hostages, bolsters his image as a modern civilized leader, and buys credit with President Trump. PRESIDENT TRUMP: I want to thank Kim Jong-un who really was excellent to these three incredible people. I really think he wants to do something and bring that country into the real world. NARRATOR: February, 2019. Kim Jong-un sets out on a 2,500 mile journey. The destination, Vietnam, and a second crucial meeting with President Trump. The prize... Winning a deal to lift the economic sanctions crippling his country. FIFIELD: When he went to Hanoi, I think he felt very confident. He very unusually announced through the state media in North Korea, that this summit was going to happen, that he thought this was all going to go very well for him. LEE: You know the stakes were very, very high. From Kim Jong-un's side, he wanted to show his people that you know what? I will make peace with Donald Trump. I will be the one North Korean leader who shakes hands and signs a deal with the US President. That was the promise Kim Jong-un made as he left the train station in Pyongyang. NARRATOR: On the first night of the summit, the two leaders meet for a dinner of North Korean steak, served well done for Trump, and rare for Kim. JEAN LEE: So this was the dinner before the summit, the night before. Kim Jong-un looks very comfortable and confident and he must have put on a bit of a show. President Trump relayed a story that Kim Jong-un told about how, yeah, he executed his uncle and then displayed his head for the rest to see. In this day and age, to see that kind of brutality, very much like the heads of those beheaded by Henry VIII, were stuck outside the Tower of London. REPORTER: Have you exchanged very interesting dialogue Mr. President in the last 30 minutes? PRESIDENT TRUMP: Well if you could've heard that dialogue, well you would pay for that dialogue wouldn't you. LEE: I think it goes to show that Kim Jong-un, deep inside, wanted to reach out to Donald Trump in a way that no other leader had reached out to Donald Trump. Which is, you know what Mr. President, let's talk about raw power. I will tell you what raw power is. I will give you an example of what I did to my uncle. Donald Trump respects raw power, and that's what Kim Jong-un wanted to emphasize. PRESIDENT TRUMP: There were a lot of great ideas being thrown about. I think very importantly, the relationship is you know, just very strong. NARRATOR: With the dinner table talk out of the way, the two leaders get down to business. REPORTER (over TV): Analysts say there is considerable pressure on both Trump and Kim Jong-un, to come up with a more substantive deal than the one they struck in Singapore. Kim desperately needs sanctions to be lifted. Trump has gotta come back with something more substantive than they got in June. TRANSLATOR: If I'm not willing to do that, I won't be here right now. PRESIDENT TRUMP: Good answer. JEAN LEE: The North Koreans estimated that President Trump needed a foreign policy victory, and that they would sign a deal. Kim Jong-un thought it was a sure thing. So, they got down to the nitty gritty of this nuclear deal. But it can quickly go sour. NARRATOR: In his opening gambit, Kim offers a limited deal. To shut down North Korea's largest nuclear testing site, in return for the complete lifting of all sanctions. BOLTON: Trump was not prepared to make a partial deal. He was prepared to make only the big deal, which is the complete elimination of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. But Kim kept pressing for his more limited deal. Like many communist negotiators, he's very good at saying the same thing over and over again. The Germans have a word for it, they call it Sizfleisch' and it means exactly what it sounds like, that he'd just be prepared to sit there for as long as it took. So Trump and Kim went around and around. We could see the frustration that Kim felt that he wasn't getting through. So there came a point where kind of a silence descended on the room and lasted. And it was at that point, I think everybody realized, this meeting is really over. Astonishing! The second summit between the US and North Korea is over. The headline here, no deal! REPORTER 3 (over TV): The two leaders' motorcades roared away from the summit site within minutes of each other. TRUMP (over TV): Sometimes you have to walk. FIFIELD: They literally left their lunch on the table in Hanoi, and went off back to their respective capitals. So, I think it was a miscalculation. LEE: Kim Jong-un was very, very sure he could reach a deal in Hanoi. So, on the long train ride back to North Korea, Kim Jong-un must have asked himself, who am I going to blame for this failure? Who will be the person who will fall by the sword? was very angry. He lost face in that he didn't have a deal. He left empty-handed, and that has increased the pressure on Kim Jong-un since. NARRATOR: Failure to reach a deal with Trump, is a major setback in Kim's bid to normalize his regime. At least three of his officials are thought to have been executed or purged as punishment. Kim was returning to the system of terror that has sustained his dynasty for three generations. (birds squawking) LEE: In North Korea, the border is not just solid. It is highly impenetrable. Except for the joint security area where there is no fence. LEE: A North Korean soldier called Oh Chong-song, a top soldier in the Korean People's Army, stationed right along the 38th parallel. Only the crème de la crème are posted along the border. But he dashed across the line running for his life. He was shot at North Korean guards. NARRATOR: As the North Korean soldier lies wounded in the demilitarized zone, which separates North and South Korea, troops stage a rescue attempt. LEE: He was miraculously saved. He was then taken by helicopter to a Korean hospital. It was discovered that there were many worms in his body. He was healthy soldier who got the best treatment in North Korea, but he was still suffering from malnutrition. And this was a shock to many people who were watching what's happening This particular video must have shown Kim Jong-un, that security along the border was paramount, because even the most trusted lieutenants were ready to jump ship. I think Kim Jong-un would've been very angry at the Generals who allowed this to happen under their watch. And I'm sure they were reprimanded and imprisoned, or even you know, even worse punishment for this. NARRATOR: To clamp down on a rising tide of defectors, Kim has increased border security and threatened would-be traitors with severe punishments. But the dictator remains torn between his allegiance to the family dynasty and the pull of his teenage years in the democratic West. Shortly after he took power, he tracked down an old friend in Europe. LEE: When you've spent your most formative years in a very westernized country, studying in Switzerland as a teenager, that will stick with you, it's this nostalgia. LEE: He will never be able to have the life back again, but if he invites his childhood friend to come back to North Korea, it's like satisfying a part of his life, that he yearns for, but he can never replay. NARRATOR: Kim's two meetings had failed to deliver a deal on North Korea's nuclear arsenal. In June 2019, Trump rekindles the bromance. President Trump touching down in South Korea just a short while ago, after having extended an apparently impromptu invitation to the leader of North Korea. I just put out a feeler, 'cause I don't know where he is right now, he may not be in North Korea. But I said if Chairman Kim would wanna meet, I'll be at the border at Sidley. We seem to get along very well. KARL: The meeting at the DMZ was entirely impromptu. He tweets an invitation to the North Korean dictator to meet. And North Koreans finally do respond and Donald Trump marveled that apparently Kim Jong-un follows me on Twitter. JEAN LEE: After the breakdown of the talks in Hanoi, Kim Jong-un desperately wants and needs the opportunity to meet again Kim Jong-un needed some imagery to tell his people things are fine, we're still friends, I've got it under control. The North Koreans would have loved imagery of Kim Jong-un slowly making his way to the demarcation line. President Trump was there more quickly, clearly more anxious to cross over to the North Korean side, they would've loved that. TRANSLATOR: Good to see you again. JEAN LEE: The idea that an American President wants to step into North Korean territory, propaganda gold. KARL: Suddenly Donald Trump is walking with Kim Jong-un in North Korea! (laughs). You know, the first American leader to set foot in North Korea. (overlapping chatter) WOMAN: Come on, uh-uh guys, come on guys. KARL: And then they walk back over to the South Korean side. WOMAN: Come on, come on. WOMAN: Go, go, go, move. KARL: And we did not know that it was truly going to happen. And it was a scene of total chaos. WOMAN: Straight, they're going straight. KARL: Suddenly it appears that they're gonna be going inside this building, and the North Koreans actually try to block the American press from going over. WOMAN: Hold it, no. MAN: Press, press. MAN 2: Stop it, stop it. Press, press. REPORTER: US Pool! MAN: US Pool? REPORTER: Yes. KARL: And so, Stephanie Grisham, Donald Trump's Press Secretary, essentially decked a North Korean Security Guard, who was trying to block the American press from following into this room. CROWD: US Pool! REPORTER: Excuse me. Some help. US Pool. Please, please. KARL: You know, this was an extraordinary photo op. But it accomplished absolutely nothing beyond the photo op. There's no question today's meeting was an historic first. But after two summits and one impromptu meeting, North Korea's nuclear program remains fully in place. NARRATOR: With no breakthrough in sight, in the fall of 2019, the dictator changes course. In a symbolic statement to his people, he makes a pilgrimage to the sacred Mount Paektu, mythical birthplace of the Kim Dynasty. JEAN LEE: It's not just that Kim Jong-un likes riding horses, there's another purpose here. It is part of the propaganda. He's really focused on a particular King, King Tongmyong, and King Tongmyong is a warrior who's often shown fighting off foreign influence, and bringing the country together on a white horse. And so, it's a way to remind his people that I am the successor of that heritage, and I have a right to rule. NARRATOR: Turning his back on President Trump, Kim threatens to deliver a so-called Christmas Gift to the United States. LEE: Kim Jong-un was disappointed he could not convince Mr. Trump. I think he realized, okay, if Trump will not negotiate with me, I will make a bigger hammer. So that's a message that I think he wanted to send the world. I will show you how powerful I am. I will show you who's really boss in this neighborhood. And it's me, Kim Jong-un. (chanting in native language). NARRATOR: October 2020. Kim celebrates three generations of his family's rule. But his talks with Trump have failed to remove the sanctions holding back his economy. How long can he maintain the loyalty of his people? JEAN LEE: In allowing the people to see him cry, Kim Jong-un, on October 10th, wanted to show that he's human too. He wanted to show that vulnerability. "Yes, I am almost like a God and I was born to lead this country, but I'm a father like you, I care about my children like you, I care about our future like you." So, it was designed to be a particular show of humility and to show his personality. But I can't help but think it's also theatre. And so, we are moving into a phase where we have less access and less information, because it's so And he wants to seem like somebody who actually is in touch with his people. But it's very hard for us to tell whether we can trust it. LEE: Economically, they're in very, very deep trouble. Sanctions, pandemic and floods, all those problems have combined to make North Korea's economy, which was already on its knees, nearly on its deathbed. And yet, Kim Jong-un continues to develop nuclear weapons. I think it's very dangerous because if you are cornered into a position where there really is no exit, then you might look for extreme solutions. NARRATOR: In 2020, Kim unveils the world's largest mobile Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile nicknamed "The Monster" Despite his attempts to modernize North Korea and remake his image, Kim Jong-un remains the dictator of a rogue state that is now more dangerous than ever. BOLTON: You can't prevent irrational regimes, but you can certainly do everything possible to keep the world's most dangerous weapons out of their hands. I think obviously you have to consider the use of force. I don't think the end of North Korea is likely to be pleasant in any circumstances. (fireworks explode) NARRATOR: It's thought Kim now has at least 40 nuclear missiles, and is close to completing a new secret weapon that would pose a greater threat to the West than ever before. LEE: They're building a new 3,000-ton submarine with the ability to fire ballistic missiles. MADDEN: Once they reach certain technical metrics, North Korea can then put one of these ballistic missiles on a submarine. Submarines are very difficult to track. It's basically a roving threat and a moving target. North Korea can then float that submarine out to the Pacific Ocean and scare the crap out of people in Los Angeles. A whole other mess of stuff to keep people up at night.