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Retired Danish chef Ulrich Larsen cannot even explain to himself what made him take up a double life as a North Korean spy.
“I don’t really know myself. I’ve actually always been a pretty ordinary guy,” says the retired cook who lives in a suburb of Copenhagen with his family. Then along came North Korea.
Larsen is the subject of a new documentary whose revelations have reached all the way to the leaders of the United Nations.

The documentary – Muldvarpen: Undercover i Nordkorea (The Mole: Undercover in North Korea), made by Mads Brugger – tells of how North Korea’s leaders sought to circumvent UN sanctions by offering weapons and drugs in exchange for oil and cash.
According to the documentary, Larsen’s interest in the country is sparked after he watches a documentary film called Det Rode Kapel (The Red Chapel) – which was widely criticised in North Korea.
He then decides to join the Danish-Korean Friendship Association, although he feels its members are boring and a bit odd. Nonetheless, though Larsen is pretty quiet, he is soon promoted within the organisation.
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He winds up meeting the chairman of the Spain-based Korean Friendship Association (KFA), a Spaniard with aristocratic roots who is particularly committed to North Korea’s cause. Larsen becomes the man’s confidante, and eventually they travel to North Korea together, with the help of Brugger.
Despite the considerable risks involved, the meetings are recorded with hidden microphones and cameras.
Over the course of a decade, Larsen comes to live a double life that is a secret to everyone, even his wife. He infiltrates the KFA, meets a contact person in North Korea’s Ministry of Culture and gradually becomes closer and closer to the North Korean leadership, according to the film.

Ultimately, he and an alleged Scandinavian businessman – a former member of the Foreign Legion and a cocaine dealer who calls himself “Mr James” – wind up haggling with senior North Koreans over the sale of complex weapon systems and the manufacture of drugs, the documentary claims. Their plan is to build a secret factory in Uganda to build weapons and drugs.
Meanwhile, they also hatch a plan to make a million-dollar deal between North Korea, Mr James and a Jordanian oil trader.
All this presumably violates UN sanctions imposed over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programme that expressly ban the trade in weapons and oil with Pyongyang, which has repeatedly been accused of circumventing the sanctions in recent years.
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Brugger’s documentary was made in co-production with Norwegian radio NRK, Swedish station SVT and Britain’s BBC.
The work recalls The Interview, a Hollywood satire with James Franco and Seth Rogen that tells of a journalist recruited by the CIA to assassinate North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un during an interview. The movie led to considerable discord with Pyongyang in 2014, and there were threats that cinemas might be attacked.
What’s different in this case is that the documentary is not fictional, but shows real meetings and agreements.
Larsen is well-aware that he was exposing himself to considerable danger. “People are angry, there’s no doubt about that,” he told broadcaster DR, conceding that he had definitely annoyed people “and lied an unbelievable amount”. 

The three-part series has triggered an international response.
Denmark and Sweden instructed their UN agencies to inform the United Nations Sanctions Committee about the documentary, while both countries’ foreign ministers also said that they were highly concerned about the content of the documentary and the activities shown in connection with North Korea.
The broadcaster DR reports that Larsen has already received an invitation to meet a UN committee of experts.
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Ultimately, it is the Danes who draw the line, according to the documentary. “Mr James” goes underground – otherwise, he would have had to come up with the millions of dollars he promised.
And Larsen, the mole of the documentary’s title, comes clean, telling his wife who he kept in the dark for all those years.
He also comes clean to his Spanish mentor at KFA, who ends their contact. Larsen is seen drawing a deep breath in the documentary. “Would you like to be a mole again?” Brugger asks.
Not in that exact same way, answers Larsen. But he adds: “You should never say never.”


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North Korea

The Danish chef who spent 10 years infiltrating Kim Jong-un’s North Korea

The documentary is a co-production by Norwegian radio NRK, Swedish station SVT and Britain’s BBC. Photo: dpa

In this undated handout image from the Danish broadcaster DR, the protaganist of the documentary "Muldvarpen: Undercover i Nordkorea," Ulrich Larsen is shown.

In this undated handout image from Danish broadcaster DR from the documentary "Muldvarpen," the protagonist Ulrich Larsen is trained in how to use a weapon.

In this shot from the documentary "Muldvarpen: Undercover i Nordkorea," protagonist Ulrich Larsen shows how he attaches a device to himself for secretly recording.

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-il (L) walks in front of his youngest son Kim Jong-un (R) as they watch a parade to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party of Korea in Pyongyang October 10, 2010. North Korea's new young leader will have to share power with an uncle and the military after the death of his father Kim Jong-il as the isolated country shifts to collective rule from strongman dictatorship, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said on December 21, 2011. Picture taken October 10, 2010. Mandatory credit REUTERS/Kyodo (NORTH KOREA - Tags: POLITICS OBITUARY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. MANDATORY CREDIT. JAPAN OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN JAPAN. YES

(FILES) This file picture taken by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on April 15, 2013 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C-front) applauding at the Unhasu orchestra concert at the People's Theatre in Pyongyang to celebrate the 101st anniversary of the birth of late leader Kim Il-Sung, as his uncle, Jang Song-Thaek (front L), looks on. North Korea confirmed on December 9, 2013 that the powerful uncle of the nation's young leader Kim Jong-Un has been purged, accusing him of building a rival power base and being a corrupt, drug-using womaniser. Jang Song-Thaek, once seen as his nephew's mentor and the power behind the throne, has been stripped of all his posts for committing criminal acts and leading a "counter-revolutionary faction", state media said. REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAIALBLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PHOTO IS DISTRIBU

South Korean independent presidential candidate and former prime minister, Lee Hoi-Chang (R) and his wife Han In-Ok smile after casting their ballots in the country's presidential election at a polling station in Seoul, 19 December 2007. Polls opened at 6am early 19 December in South Korea's presidential election, with a business-friendly conservative tipped to end a decade of left-leaning rule despite an upcoming fraud investigation. REPUBLIC OF KOREA OUT AFP PHOTO / DONG-A ILBO / AFP PHOTO / DONG-A ILBO / AFP

FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2005, file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, then Chinese President Hu Jintao, front right, and then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, front left, inspect an honor guard as Hu arrives at the airport in Pyongyang, North Korea. As North Korea celebrates the 70th anniversary of its founding on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018, the presence - or absence - of Xi could highlight just how much vitality has been restored to ties between Pyongyang and its most powerful backer after a prolonged chill. (Ju Peng/Xinhua via AP, File)

Former South Korean spy Park Chae-seo during an interview in Seoul. Photo: AFP

Did Kim Il-sung imagine his ‘martyred’ Chinese best friend Zhang Weihua?

North Korean painting depicting the final meeting between Kim, right, and Zhang in Fusong. Photo: Zhang Jinquan’s ‘Da Yi Qian Qiu’ (Ethnic Korean Research Institute, Shenyang, 2000)

Zhang Weihua, left, and Kim Il-sung’s younger brother Chol-ju. Taken from Zhang Jinquan’s Da Yi Qian Qiu (Ethnic Korean Research Institute, Shenyang, 2000)

Fusong pictured early last century. Taken from Lu Minghui’s Kim Il-sung and Zhang Weihua: Life and Death Across National Boundaries (World Knowledge Publishing Press, 2002)

Kim with Zhang Weihua’s great-granddaughter Zhang Mengmeng in 1987. Taken from Lu Minghui’s Kim Il-sung and Zhang Weihua: Life and Death Across National Boundaries (World Knowledge Publishing Press, 2002)

People visit the Mansu Hill to lay flowers to the bronze statues of former North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, North Korea, Saturday, Oct. 10, 2020, on the occasion of the 75th founding anniversary of the country's Workers' Party. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)

Kim with multiple generations of the Zhang family in Pyongyang in 1993, a year before Kim’s death. Taken from Lu Minghui’s Kim Il-sung and Zhang Weihua: Life and Death Across National Boundaries (World Knowledge Publishing Press, 2002)

The street in front of the former Zhang residence as seen in 2019. Photo: Maria Siow

North Korean President Kim Il-sung, centre, pictured in 1987. Photo: AP

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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Kim Yo-jong. Photo: Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un speaks during a meeting of the executive policy council of the Workers' Party's central committee.

In this Sunday, Feb. 11, 2018, file photo, South Koran President Moon Jae-in talks with Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's sister, during a performance of North Korea's Samjiyon Orchestra at National Theater in Seoul, South Korea. A rare invitation to Pyongyang for South Korea's president marked Day Two of the North Korean Kim dynasty's southern road tour, part of an accelerating diplomatic thaw that included some Korean liquor over lunch and the shared joy of watching a "unified" Korea team play hockey at the Olympics. At left is North Korea's nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam. (Bee Jae-man/Yonhap via AP, File)

Students wearing a face mask have their temperature checked as a precaution against a new coronavirus as their university reopened following vacation, at Kim Chaek University of Technology in Pyongyang, Wednesday, April 22, 2020. (AP Photo/Jon Chol Jin)

In this undated picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on August 28, 2020 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (2nd R) visits a corn crop in typhoon-stricken area in South Hwanghae Province. (Photo by STR / various sources / AFP) / South Korea OUT / ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS / THIS PICTURE WAS MADE AVAILABLE BY A THIRD PARTY. AFP CAN NOT INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, LOCATION, DATE AND CONTENT OF THIS IMAGE --- /

In a photo taken on April 14, 2019 tourists from China pose for photos before the Three Charters monument in Pyongyang. - Ordinary Chinese pay travel companies around 2,500 yuan (360 US dollars) for a standard three-day trip to North Korea, arriving overland by train in Pyongyang to tour the capital's highlights, from the Arch of Triumph to Kim Il Sung Square. (Photo by Ed JONES / AFP) / TO GO WITH: NKorea-China-tourism-diplomacy, FOCUS by Sebastien BERGER

FILE - In this June 4, 2010, file photo, Kim Jong Nam, the eldest son of then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, waves after his first-ever interview with South Korean media in Macau. The murder of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's estranged half-brother at an airport in Malaysia was brazen, intricately orchestrated and, thanks to scores of security cameras, witnessed by millions around the world. The real masterminds behind the killing, however, may never be brought to justice. (Shin In-seop/JoongAng Ilbo via AP, File)

FILE PHOTO: Korean War veterans react as they shout slogans to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a parade to mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of a truce in the 1950-1953 Korean War, at Kim Il-sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 27, 2013. REUTERS/Jason Lee/File Photo FROM THE FILES - 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE KOREAN WAR

North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong-un visits battle sites at Mount Paektu in December 2019. Photo: KCNA via KNS/AFP

Ex-North Korea prisoner Kim Dong-chul says he was a CIA spy

Former detainees Kim Dong-chul (centre), Kim Hak-song (behind) and Tony Kim (left) at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland in May 2018 after they were freed by North Korea. Photo: AFP

(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 10, 2018 US President Donald Trump (centre L) shakes hands with US detainee Kim Dong-chul (3rd R) upon his return with fellow detainees Kim Hak-song (R) and Tony Kim (front L) after they were freed by North Korea, at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. - A former prisoner in North Korea has told German media that he used to spy for the CIA, gathering nuclear secrets and taking pictures with a concealed wristwatch camera. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP)

Alek Sigley describes being ‘kidnapped’ by North Korea and forced to admit to spying

Alek Sigley after being released by North Korea. Photo: Reuters

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Ulrich Larsen says he was just an ‘ordinary guy’. Then he watched a film that led him to spy on the highest levels of Pyongyang
The secrets Larsen discovered are part of a new documentary whose revelations have reached all the way to the leaders of the United Nations



Ulrich Larsen says he was just an ‘ordinary guy’. Then he watched a documentary that prompted him to infiltrate the highest levels of Pyongyang.


The Danish chef who spent 10 years infiltrating Kim Jong-un’s North Korea

Ulrich Larsen says he was just an ‘ordinary guy’. Then he watched a film that led him to spy on the highest levels of Pyongyang The secrets Larsen discovered are part of a new documentary whose revelations have reached all the way to the leaders of the United Nations

Ulrich Larsen says he was just an ‘ordinary guy’. Then he watched a film that led him to spy on the highest levels of Pyongyang

The secrets Larsen discovered are part of a new documentary whose revelations have reached all the way to the leaders of the United Nations