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NORTH KOREA

North Koreans snubbed by French cheese college

A bid by North Korea to send experts to a prestigious French cheese-making training school, seemingly at the behest of its fromage-loving leader King Jong-un, has been rejected. It did not fit with the institution's "priorities or strategy", it seems.

Published: 23 April 2014 13:23 CEST
North Koreans snubbed by French cheese college
Kim Jong-un's bid to send two North Koreans to learn how to make French cheese has been refused by a prestigious French college. Photos: Zennie62/Amandabhslater/Flickr

There was bad news for cheese lovers in North Korea this week, including Kim Jong-un  – a supposed Emmental aficionado, when a French college refused to take on three experts from the People’s Republic.

Two officials from North Korea visited the National Dairy Industry College (ENIL), based in Mamirolle, Franche-Comté last month in the hope of sending experts to the college to receive specialist instruction in the the art of making French fromage.

French social media went into meltdown on Tuesday when it was reported that the school had accepted North Korea's bid to promote "cheese diplomacy".

But on Tuesday the director of ENIL Véronique Drouet moved quickly to deny the deal, telling AFP that it simply wasn’t feasible to train the Koreans and their request had been politely but firmly declined.

“I think they thought they had found a school that would suit them and they thought there would be no question the partnership would work,” said Drouet.

But “there is no basis to go further with North Korea because such a partnership does not fit into our priorities and strategy,” she added.

Drouet said ENIL, which trains 600 students in cheese production, does have several international partnerships but they are mostly in relation to links already set up via the regional authorities of Franche-Comté.   

“We don’t have a vocation to train foreign students, we are a little school on a human scale. We can’t just expand to all four corners of the world. We have to prioritize our existing partners,” she said.

“I didn’t see the interest in it because it seemed difficult to me to send my students to do an internship in North Korea,” she added. “But it’s always good to know that we are well known,” she joked.

The snub will be a disappointment to North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un, who is believed to have become a huge fan of Switzerland’s Emmental cheese, a taste that was developed during the time that he studied there.

Some high-profile North Koreaens have been allowed to study in France. In December last year The Local reported how Kim Jong-un's nephew Kim Han-sol, who is doing a degree at the renowned Sciences Po university, had to be placed under police guard after his uncle and several of his allies were executed.

SEE ALSO: Kim Jong-un's nephew 'under police guard' in France

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DENMARK

Danish chef spent ten years infiltrating North Korea

A Danish chef on a sickness pension spent ten years infiltrating and secretly filming North Korea's foreign influence operation for a documentary, even winning a contract to manufacture military equipment in a third country.

Published: 11 October 2020 10:44 CEST
Danish chef spent ten years infiltrating North Korea
Former chef Ulrich Larsen shakes hands with Alejandro Cao de Benós, the 'gatekeeper to North Korea'. Photo: Piraya Films
“The Mole – Undercover in North Korea”, which broadcasts on Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and British TV this Sunday, uses footage shot with hidden cameras Ulrich Larsen brought to meetings in Europe and North Korea, to expose how North Koreans are desperately trying to obtain US dollars and oil for the regime through encouraging foreign investors to break international UN sanctions. 
 
The film is directed by the Danish film maker Mads Brügger, who hired Jim Latrache-Qvortrup to represent an arms dealer called “Mr James”, who accompanied Larsen to meetings and then signed a contract on a visit to Pyongyang with a representative of a North Korean arms factory, with government officials present. 
 
 
Larsen, who had had to give up work due to chronic inflammation of his pancreas, began working on the project out of boredom.  He told Danish broadcaster DR  that he approached Brügger after curiosity about the regime led him to join the Korean Friendship Association (KFA). 
 
There he came into contact with Alejandro Cao de Benós, a Spanish nobleman who presents himself as “the Gatekeeper of North Korea”.
 
“I started with the project to make time go by when I was on sickness benefits,” he told DR. “But when I got started, I became curious. 'Is this possible?” “Is it real?” And I think sometimes it's healthy to sniff at something that seems exciting.” 
 
In 2013, Cao De Benós contacted Larsen, telling him he had three interesting investment projects in North Korea if Larsen could find people with more than 50,000 euros to invest. 
 
It was then that Brügger hired Latrache-Qvortrup, a former foreign legionnaire who had spent eight years in prison for dealing drugs to the rich and famous. 
 
Latrache-Qvortrup then accompanied Larsen on trips to Uganda, Spain, Norway and North Korea to help expose the hermit state's influence operation. 
 
Larsen said he had kept his double life secret from his family. 
 
“My wife was never told at all that what I was doing could be dangerous. Not at all,” he said. “I can see that it's selfish, but if I had told her, I would probably have been told not to come home. At the same time, it was also a way to protect her. Because if she knew I was going out to meet with an arms dealer, she would have been sitting at home a total wreck.” 
 
One of the most tense moments came when Cao De Benós brought a device that detects hidden cameras to a meeting. 
 
Hugh Griffiths, co-ordinator of the UN Panel of Experts on North Korea between 2014 and 2019, told the BBC that he had found the film “highly credible”.
 
“This film is the most severe embarrassment to Chairman Kim Jong-un that we have ever seen,” said Griffiths. “Just because it appears amateurish does not mean the intention to sell and gain foreign currency revenue is not there. Elements of the film really do correspond with what we already know.”
 
 
Larsen told DR that now the film was being broadcast, he was worried that he might face repercussions. 
 
“There is no doubt that some people are going to be pretty angry. I have pissed all over some of these people and lied incredibly. And it's easy to travel around the world, so if they now decide that I should learn a lesson. Or if the North Koreans could think of sending someone after me…”
 
But he said he hoped that would not happen.
 
“I then choose to believe that they are not so… what can I say… low-down practical. But it may be that they want to set an example and scare me, or do something worse. I do not know what will happen.”
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