The Hermit Kingdom | VICE on HBO

this week on Vice we go to North Korea [Applause] [Music] but we'll be there uncovering the news culture expose the absurdity of the modern condition serve us well Drake check up game she's a casual [Applause] [Music] [Applause] we hear advice have been fascinated by North Korea for a long time in fact we've done three documentaries about the Hermit Kingdom all of which have been harshly critical of the resume you have to go to the house of the people the library of the commode you have to see the soccer team of the video but the one thing that we didn't do was meet any of the actual people of North Korea it's not very busy for that reason I'm personally never allowed to go back to the DPRK but we wanted to get inside the country again to see firsthand how its faring under its new very young and very mysterious leader Kim jong-un one of the biggest challenges in dealing with North Korea on any level is that we have virtually no diplomatic relations with them in fact over the past 65 plus years only a handful of Americans have ever met the country's leaders the most prominent of which was Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during a visit to the country when she brought Kim jong-il a basketball signed by Michael Jordan now she did this because despite his public disdain for America Kim jong-il privately loved the Chicago Bulls his passion for the 90 0 Bulls was passed on to his son Kim jong-un and banking on the dynasties inherent love for basketball we worked through official and back channels to propose a goodwill game of basketball with North Korea's national team if they accepted we would bring three members of the Harlem Globetrotters were the most natural ambassadors of goodwill in the game and a real live Chicago Bull much to our surprise it worked the DPRK actually invited our delegates to come to North Korea and participate in a very very rare quote-unquote foreign sports exchange program the timing however turned out to be very tricky because in December of 2012 North Korea launched the quang ninh song three satellite into the school stirring fears that the country's missile program could soon be advanced enough to carry a nuclear weapon as far as the United States and just so we didn't forget exactly what these missiles would be carrying they conducted a third nuclear test to make sure we got the message this of course said the international community on edge so in the midst of heightened tensions and heated rhetoric we headed to Pyongyang to see if we could actually engage with the North Koreans to the cultural vehicle of basketball second you land in North Korea you realize you're no longer in control of anything government mongers direct your every step you're told where to go what to do and most importantly what to film and as other Westerners have found out the hard way if you flaunt these restrictions you could wind up in North Korean Jail one of the worst places on earth since our instincts are usually to shoot the exact opposite of what people want us to I was more than a bit freaked out [Music] having the Harlem Globetrotters along with us on this trip was extremely comforting because they were some of the most positive guys we've ever met and I needed that comfort pretty much right away because as soon as we entered the hotel lobby we were welcomed by a banner celebrating the recent nuclear test at first we thought the banner might have been put there for us but when I opened up the curtains for my first look at yang I saw a line of buses leaving the hotel and then I turned on the TV [Music] [Music] some touch to unit a nuclear scientist from the February caused a stir staying at this hotel right now they were brought here I've I have kind of a reward or some sort of celebration settling so we weren't even there for a few hours and this international nuclear controversy with huge geopolitical ramifications was playing out in our hotel lobby he just always has to hold that out for practice from the start we were under very close supervision they were watching us and what we were shooting at all times I mean it has a schedule we have a lot of blinders whose full-time jobs it is to make sure they want to make sure that we stay on this guy's also army to people they're waiting for you yes you're onto the bus we were always surrounded by guides and translators and officials many of whom we'd been warned were actually secret police we'd agreed that along with the exhibition game we post a basketball camp with what we thought would be a bunch of kids in a high school gym somewhere instead we were ushered into a massive 10,000 seat stadium we'd also be working with the best under 18 players in the country my name is Anthony Blake's also known as buckets I'm number 15 with the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters we're gonna show you guys some great things today and I'll hopefully give you an opportunity to learn something new as well as make some new friends with us on my whistle first guy goes so they have to compete for the rebound [Music] [Applause] as we were leaving we spotted North Korea's most famous basketball player Lee Myung Han who had come out to watch the drills Rhee was at one time the tallest man in basketball who was super excited about our visit and he gathered us together for a chat in the country that's known to suffer from malnutrition and the stunted growth that goes along with it Rhee is truly an exception in fact his height actually attracted the interest of American Scouts but due to trade sanctions he was unable to pursue his dreams of playing in the NBA and although loyal to North Korea when he was once asked how he felt about not being able to play in the NBA he replied I'm not interested in money or politics as a sportsman I just want to try [Music] [Music] as one of the trade-offs for allowing us to visit through this sports exchange we agreed to go on their state sanctioned tour and like the beginning of any tour of North Korea our first stop was an obligatory visit to the Sun Palace where the country's last two leaders lion State North Korea is the last the socialist-slash-communist cult of personality utopian States and much like Stalin in the Soviet Union or Mao and China their leaders are not only revered as political figures but flat-out worshipped as gods Kim il-sung was installed by the Soviets as the first supreme leader in 1948 and in fact he's still president of the DPRK today even though he's been dead since 1994 Nelson was succeeded by his son Kim jong-il who inherited his father's godlike excellence and he was perfect at everything not only was he the greatest at military strategy and City Planning but also at filmmaking furniture design and even animal husbandry when Kim jong-il died in 2011 leadership was passed to his son kim jeong-hoon about whom the world knows very very little these state sanctioned tours of North Korea tend to be exactly the same year in year out but because of our basketball mission and our documentary they created a new hand-tailored propaganda tour they were going to show us how great the quality of life North Korea really was so instead of taking us to places like the most militarized border on earth the DMZ they took us to the North Korean version of Sea World immediately we knew we were stepping into something completely different a huge crowd was already seated and waiting patiently for us to arrive even here we will remind it North Korea's nuclear prowess [Music] [Music] [Applause] and interestingly Kim taehoon was not just trying to date if the mastermind behind all penises and bombs he was also the choreographer of the dolphin show [Music] not only is Kim jong-eun great with dolphins he's now personally responsible for inspecting advising and directing all aspects of North Korean life [Music] I am W infinity take the different provinces and it doesn't [Music] any machine we see with a red placard like that are there ever arguments over who gets to use the marshals equipment [Music] [Music] what do you think is the most popular sport oh we came on the right mission money at the end of the day we were invited to indulge ourselves in a North Korean shopping spree the wall was clearly a showpiece designed to project an abundance of delicacies in a country that doesn't even have enough food to feed its people the stores rammed with Western products and a very very attentive sales staff Doritos ruffles and I think much again good info I'm person ago if don't I love coke do you like her tear at the credit card oh no it would have felt just like a store at home if it weren't for the fact that a we were the only customers there and Z I couldn't actually buy anything as we drove back to the hotel I noticed that in spite of the country's well-documented chronic power shortages this city was extremely well lit which made me think were even the lights part of the tour as well that might sound crazy but when you look at satellite photos of the region North Korea is completely dark [Music] the next morning we were driven to the International friendship exhibition and the only cars that we saw on the long three-hour drive there were our own the International friendship exhibition is basically this castle vault built into the side of a mountain that holds every gift ever given to the leadership of North Korea they had gifts from the likes of Moammar Ghadafi Leonid Brezhnev the Sandinistas and of course Madeleine Albright whose gift of a Michael Jordan sign basketball was the inspiration for this trip a trip by the way that was getting progressively weirder as we saw in our next stops the Kim il-sung University and grand people's study house after the prerequisite display nuclear and missile technology they gave us a tour demonstrating North Korea's openness to the outside world [Music] [Applause] this is the golden chance to have conversations because natures how long have you okay well I have been playing basketball since I was a small child I have been playing basketball for about five days now next they took us to a computer lab where students were using the Internet and your first thought is okay this looks like any lab in a university back home but then it dawns on you that it's completely silent no one is doing anything there was no typing no mouse clicking nothing we saw one guy looking at the Google homepage but he wasn't searching for anything he was just staring blankly at the screen the one person we saw there who actually looked like he knew how to use a computer was of course the one person they wanted us to meet very nice features well sorry to disturb you while you're working yes I was looking for my papers it's a forest in there and Jones this is a pastor in theory this is done in collaboration with some foreign scientists in your own considering North Korea's reputation for complete and total suppression of information this stop was clearly designed to convince us that they had access to the Internet just like the rest of the world which we knew wasn't true and that left us wondering was anything we were seeing real it felt like we were walking through a real live Truman Show created just for us everywhere we went and everything he saw was constructed to convey the exact opposite of what we know about North Korea I honestly felt like I was losing my mind but nothing could have prepared us for what was about to happen next [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] so we're here just a quick pickup game super casual really relaxed with few Harlem Globetrotters but North Koreans and myself Dennis Rodman is came gentlemen watch a moose run out why the team captain you are like him and then you can if you pick one player I'm the equipment manager okay we pick teams playground style so each team had both Americans and [Applause] let's do it team on three I'm starting what you did on [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] after the halftime show the Globetrotters went out and did what they do usually or less all boats for Yasuda [Music] Raghav Raja Ram Gouda Yama shoe hola Miguel Kissimmee down then really intense and actually started to get outside [Applause] [Music] [Applause] with no overtime game actually ended in a tie before we even knew what was going on dennis was standing and giving a speech first of all I would like to say thank you one toe comes out on another ha bleep stand up you guys have been very very kind to me and to my compadres from America and one thing always Selma cut this really short I'm very very privileged to be here and for you guys to recept us as one of you is an honor [Applause] I'm sorry that you know my country in your country are not on good terms but for me and the country you have a France to life sir thank you your friend for life because I can Giga watt seem attended a so you got a Sangha Hamidah Khurana toten hosen immonen to each in women to noon come here and we'll move to England who travel single Amida come down [Applause] we're in a complete and total days the two hours of screaming and emotion the tie game at the final buzzer and of course the surprise visit by kim jungeun it was truly a surreal experience all of a sudden we were ushered off the court and into the locker room and told to change right away we were bused across the city but no one knew where we were going no one not even our minders we were told to leave our cameras behind and brought into this large marble building and escorted through a ton of security and then we turned a corner to see Kim jong-eun Martin intervention occasionally so some entertaining hulago Olympian s or with another penguin an e-book MBA agents from Sweden area margin and Montana a totodile shelf need there we were face-to-face with Kim jong-eun for a dinner celebration and with that we were somehow the first Americans to meet North Korea's new leader sidelines for the game is one thing but standing right beside him was completely and totally insane it was like being in an alternate universe so here's what happened at first introductory speeches were given the theme of which was pretty much drink then the curtains went up and out came this all-girl band dressed in white with electric violins and there inexplicably plain [Music] then things started to get really crazy at one point Dennis took the mic and sang my way while our interpreter played the sax then they pointed at me and it was my turn the tote so I thanked him gentleman for his hospitality and said that we'd like to return the favor if he ever wanted to come to America and have dinner with us which thankfully got a big laugh clearly the booths loosened everyone up what we kept hearing from these ministers party officials and nuclear negotiators and then even from Kim jong-un himself was that they hoped our visit would be able to reduce some of the psychological barriers between the u.s. and North Korea they even went on the claim that we'd made history now that's a pretty bold statement but it is in fact historic in the years since the Korean War North Korean and American athletes have competed against each other on a handful of occasions but they'd never played on the same team and that sentiment of collaboration was echoed by kim jong hoon when he gave the final toast of anonymous William Kazan and yo-yo Carson idea to now Raymond areas karate a Romantic period Iran and Iran have nauseous so you've got the average North Korean people who are taught from birth that America is this evil imperial power hell-bent on their destruction waking up the next day to see their Dear Leader aka God hanging out with a bunch of Americans saying he hopes that we can all get along now of course it's possible that's just more propaganda but we did start to think that maybe just maybe we may have had at least some impact we realized that bringing a crew of basketball players to North Korea isn't going to lead to the country dismantling its nuclear program shutting down his labor camps or even toning down its anti-american rhetoric but during our time there we did accomplish something we just stopped buses the first time we've been able to do that just found a cord on the side of the street and we're actually able to stop at it the Globetrotters they're gonna see if they can get involved and it's actually really awesome to see through basketball we managed to bridge the divide between our countries open a dialog and make a connection with real people if only for a moment do we like to try spin [Music] [Applause] [Music] everything else [Music] amazing it was great it was amazing one little kid just said welcome to all country [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ah cool mountains of ice are just falling into the sea we're in for trouble indeed this is where the Soviets tested all their weapons this is the epicenter of it include bomb the last six months you have 9000 I easy that's an IUD [Music] [Music] once you get someone in they can never leave even police helicopters don't dare fly over here because two years ago one was shot down by an anti-aircraft gun fun place to live [Music] okay let's get out of here [Music]

Channel: VICE News

Views: 4,511,118

Rating: 4.8841457 out of 5

Keywords: VICE hermit Kingdom, vice north korea basketball, vice on HBO north korea, hermit kingdom full episode, ryan duffy north korea, vice hbo north korea, vice hermit kingdom episode 1, ryan duffy vice, vice north korea, ryan duffy, vice hbo, vice season 1, vice on HBO, shane smith vice, dennis rodman korea, Dennis Rodman, watch vice free online, Thomas Morton, documentary, documentaries, interviews, videos, journalism, vice news, North Korea (Country), vice hbo full episodes

Id: IrCQh1usdzE

Length: 31min 11sec (1871 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 23 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/thebody10]

Of course Dennis Rodman would use Spanish when speaking to an english korean translator

[u/ECasThat]

The "cheer" when Kim enters the stadium will haunt my dreams.

[u/PSNDonutDude]

This is amazing. One of the best coverages of North Korea I have seen.

[u/BunsTown]

Speaking of the breast pump.

"The machine can treat breast cancers"

"Oh wow!"

[u/KaptainKoala]

I now know how to say "Live 10,000 years" in Korean. Its, HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYYYY

[u/YJSubs]

The thing that hit me the most is the man pretend to use google, I can't stand watching it, too cringe. I skip that part.

[u/Stoned2deth]

Fuckin fascinating. Didn't expect to see it was executive produced by bill maher either

[u/kirkgobangz]

When you are watching this, there's a special person in the crowd. Sitting behind Dennis Rodman is a guy in a red jacket.....the special person is to the right of him; obviously some equivalent of the secret service ready to fucking destroy that "infidel" if tries something.

Visible at 19:59

[u/petty86]

Wonder how many people got new clothing from the govt. because the Americans were visiting. The suits and dresses everyone was wearing in that stadium looks brand new and crisp. The part where the N.Koreans were learning English was really creepy.

It's like very few people knew English, the ones who didn't know were instructed to laugh when spoken to.