♪♪ [heart beat resonating] [tense music] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] ♪ ♪ [orchestral music ringtone] - [speaking Korean] - [speaking Korean] [clock ticking] [mouse clicking] [soft suspenseful music] [police siren wailing] [birds singing] [dog barking] ♪ ♪ [light knock on door] - [speaking Korean] - [laughs] [speaking Korean] [phone line trilling] [soft suspenseful music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - There is no freedom of religion.

There is no freedom of thought.

There is no freedom of press.

The newspapers, radio an d TV stations are all State controlled.

- North Korea may be the only country in the world that completely bans outside broadcasts.

- And spying on one another is very much a part of life in North Korea.

- Cannot move from place to place without getting a permit.

I'll call the entire country of North Korea, really, a prison.

And it's the strangest country in the world.

It is the only Communist, Confucian, hereditary dynasty in the world.

And Kim Jong Un has been very busy getting rid of any potential threat.

Within one year, he got rid of his number two man in North Korea, his uncle who helped him garner power.

He dragged him out an d publicly killed him.

Then he assassinated hi s half-brother at a major international airport using banned WMD.

And he got rid of about 400 top officials.

We're now on to maybe 90th defense minister.

I lost count.

- Senior officials have been executed by the use of anti-aircraft guns.

If you shoot a human using artillery which is designed to take down planes, you can imagine the effect on the body.

The only reason to do that is for the fear that that will put into the people that are gathered and made to watch.

[somber ambient music] - [speaking Korean] [wind howling] [sighs] [gulps] [sighs] - [speaking Korean] - Do you remember how old you were when you first saw a public execution?

- [speaking Korean] [gunshots] - Victims of extermination, murder, enslavement, and torture, pe ople whose loved ones disappeared without trace, people who have been deliberately starved.

- Forced abortions, sterilization, rape, I mean, torture of the defectors who get caught and returned.

- [speaking Korean] - The Chinese government has a hardline policy of, if they find North Korean refugees, arresting them and detaining them and then forcibly sending them back to North Korea, where they will face in vestigation, torture, and a range of harsh punishments.

- [screaming] - Sometimes people will die th rough torture, and there's no recourse for North Korean citizens, for their families to complain about that.

- [shouting] - United Nations came up with a 400-page report couple of years ago that says North Korea's human rights violations is unparalleled in contemporary history.

The only parallel they could come up with is Nazi Germany.

[orchestral music ringtone] - [speaking Korean] - [speaking Korean] - [speaking Korean] - [speaking Korean] [all speaking Korean] - [speaking Korean] [pensive ambient music] [laughs] - [speaking Korean] [laughs] [all speaking Korean] - [crying] - [speaking Korean] [sighs] [phone line trilling] [line clicks] [line clicks] [suspenseful somber music] ♪ ♪ - [sighs] ♪ ♪ [insects droning] - [speaking Korean] ♪ ♪ [insects droning] [applause] [delicate piano music] - In 1910, the expanding Japanese empire colonized what was then a unified Korea.

It was a very brutal colonization.

Over the next 35 years, the Korean culture and the Korean language we re nearly eradicated.

At the end of World War II wh en Japan surrendered, they lost the empire that they had been building.

- Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world.

- Part of the settlement deal was that Korea was split.

- The 38th Parallel divided the United States Army's area from that of the Soviet forces.

- The idea was that Korea would shortly come back together and then have control ov er their own country.

In the meanwhile, the South he ld a public election, and U.S.-educated Syngman Rhee became the first president of what would become South Korea.

But in the North, Stalin decided to look fo r a Soviet sympathizer as a temporary leader in what would become North Korea.

And this is where Kim Il-sung comes in.

Kim Il-sung had been born in Korea in 1912, two years after the Japanese occupied the country.

His parents were very involved in anti-Japanese activities.

And when he was just ei ght years old, his family moved to Manchuria.

Kim Il-sung joined the Communist Party in China, and he eventually actually fought with the Soviet Union throughout World War II.

Stalin heard about Kim Il-sung because of his reputation as a leader of several anti-Japanese guerrilla groups.

When Stalin brought him to Pyongyang, Kim Il-sung didn't ev en speak good Korean.

In fact, his speeches had to be translated into Korean and then rehearsed by him because he had basically spoken Chinese since he was eight years old.

Kim Il-sung had the dream of reunifying the Koreas un der communism.

- [speaking Korean] - Expanding upon his guerrilla contacts, he put together an army and eventually got the support of both Stalin and Mao.

[explosion] - On Sunday, June 25, Communist forces attacked the Republic of Korea.

- The attack was so sudden and forceful that very quickly, almost all of South Korea was taken.

In fact, there was only a tiny pocket at the bottom of the country that had not been claimed by the North.

- An act of aggression such as this must be met with a worldwide defense.

- And a UN force containing soldiers from 21 different countries en tered the war.

What ensued was a brutal three-year war.

Nearly five million people died, half of whom were civilians.

South Korea lost a million civilians just on their own.

The United States dropped a third as many bombs on North Korea as it did in all of World War II.

And in the end, nothing was achieved.

In July of 1953, an armistice was signed and a ceasefire was put in place.

But technically speaking, the war never ended and the ramifications of that ar e still with us today.

[all singing in Korean] - [speaking Korean] [all singing in Korean] [somber music] ♪ ♪ [all speaking Korean] [musical ringtone] [tense music] - [speaking Korean] - For a while, the North Korean economy was more successful than China's, even better than South Korea.

And people pointed, saying, "Oh, look.

Co mmunism really works."

But everything was ar tificially propped up by the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc.

And when that collapsed, North Korea went into a free fall.

In 1994 af ter Kim Il-sung died, Kim Jong-il made weapons of mass destruction his priority.

This policy prioritized nu clear weapons over everything else, including the people of North Korea.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ - [speaking Korean] - Kim Jong-un needs something to protect himself from being overthrown.

You know, they saw Iraq, th ey saw Libya, they saw that Gaddafi gave up his weapons and was very ignominiously murdered by his own people with the support of the West.

Those scenes have to be terrifying to the North Koreans.

- I see these nuclear weapons and missiles as a symptom of how isolated an d threatening, and threatened the North Korean government feels.

♪ ♪ - The North Korean people are really the pawns in this political game that their regime is playing.

[upbeat suspenseful music] - [laughs] ♪ ♪ [suspenseful percussive music] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] [sirens blaring] ♪ ♪ [phone line trilling] [somber orchestral music] ♪ ♪ [somber music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [chickens clucking] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] [car horns honking] ♪ ♪ [brokers speaking Korean] [suspenseful orchestral music] ♪ ♪ [siren wailing] ♪ ♪ [siren wailing] ♪ ♪ [suspenseful music fading] [orchestral music ringtone] - [laughs] - [laughs] - [speaking Korean] [jet engines whirring] [suspenseful ambient music] ♪ ♪ [ominous thud] [indistinct PA announcement] ♪ ♪ [phone beeps] [phone beeps] [sobs] [sobs] [singing in Korean] [speaking English] [laughs] - [singing in Korean] [choir singing in Korean] ♪ ♪ [children shouting, laughing] - [speaking Korean] [wind howling] [tense music] ♪ ♪ [horns honking] - [speaking Korean] [sighs] ♪ ♪ [somber orchestral music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [soft somber music] ♪ ♪ [somber music fading] [insects droning] [sirens wailing] [phone line trilling] [phone beeps] [ethereal suspenseful music] ♪ ♪ [sighs] ♪ ♪ [phone line trilling] - [gasps softly] - Oh.

[phone beeps] [somber music fading] - [groans softly] [insects droning] [truck horn honks] [tense droning music] ♪ ♪ [soft peaceful music] [indistinct chatter] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] [shower running] [airy ambient music] [food crunching] ♪ ♪ [voices echoing] [somber ambient music] ♪ ♪ - In a way, the scariest parts of North Korea are some of what they want to show you at these mass games.

And there's 100,000 people wearing the same kind of clothes and marching in unison.

And you see these children who are five, six years old with their mass games cards spelling out propaganda messages in perfect unison.

You've got to think, you know, "How do you get your five-year-old to do that?"

You see how much repression there is.

[patriotic music echoing] ♪ ♪ [insects droning] [tense music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [horn honking] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [gentle piano music] ♪ ♪ - North Korea has basically plagiarized the Christian Bible.

You can see a lot of parallels to the Old Testament.

- Kim Il-sung is God, and Kim Jong-il is the son of God.

They claim that he was born not in a manger, but in a log cabin on Mount Paektu, which is at the Chinese-North Korean border.

- It's said his birth was heralded by a beautiful star and a double rainbow.

They wanted to keep this powerful imagery for themselves, so the Bible is banned.

[insects droning, animals calling] [tense music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [tense music fades] [tense music] ♪ ♪ - [crying] ♪ ♪ [crying] ♪ ♪ [dogs barking in distance] [dogs barking in distance] [dogs barking in distance] [flowing dramatic music] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [birds singing] - [sniffles] [tense music] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] - [giggles] [soft upbeat music] ♪ ♪ - Squat.

- Yeah.

[jazzy music ringtone] - [sobbing] [somber music] [insects chirping] [soft dramatic music] ♪ ♪ [clock ticking] ♪ ♪ - [speaking Korean] [train horn blasting] - [speaking Korean] [sniffles] [somber ambient music] ♪ ♪ - [singing in Korean] [cheers and applause] - Mm... ♪ ♪ [monkey chattering] ♪ ♪ - [smooching] - [smooching] [monkey chattering] [laughter] [insects droning] [imitates police siren] [tense music] ♪ ♪ [horn honking] ♪ ♪ - [speaking Korean] ♪ ♪ [frogs croaking] ♪ ♪ [engine chugging] ♪ ♪ [distant bird call] ♪ ♪ [engine stops] [insects droning] [indistinct chatter] [soft upbeat piano music] ♪ ♪ [all sobbing and sniffling] ♪ ♪ [bus engine chugging] [somber ambient music] ♪ ♪ - [sighs] - Mm.

[sniffles] [somber music] [sighs] ♪ ♪ [sniffles] ♪ ♪ [subdued dramatic music] ♪ ♪ [indistinct chatter] [laughter] [laughter] [elevator bell rings] [pensive upbeat music] [children chattering] [laughter] [indistinct chatter] [distant melody playing] ♪ ♪ [swelling ambient music] ♪ ♪ [orchestral music ringtone] [notification chimes] [orchestral music ringtone] - Ah.

- [speaking Korean] [laughter and chatter] - [laughs] ♪ ♪ - [speaking Korean] ♪ ♪ [bicycle bell ringing] - [speaking Korean] [bittersweet orchestral music] ♪ ♪ [inspiring music] ♪ ♪