0:37: 🚢 This is a story about how the triads facilitate the oil trade that keeps North Korea's weapons program alive. 5:52: 📚 North Korea relies on illicit activities, including arms trade, drug trafficking, and counterfeit money, to generate revenue and support its regime survival. 11:02: 🚢 North Korea evades sanctions by teaming up with organized crime groups, such as the triads, and smuggling oil through Hong Kong. 15:53: 🔍 Suncity Group, a gambling business operated by alleged high-level members of the triads, is accused of running illegal cross-border gambling rings and having connections to organized crime groups. 20:22: 🕵‍♂ A detailed investigation reveals connections between North Korean intelligence, oil-smuggling operations, and Chinese banks, raising questions about China's role in allowing criminal activities under its nose. 25:08: ⚠ China and Russia have been excusing and justifying North Korea's aggressive behavior, putting the Asian region and the world at risk of conflict. 31:46: ! The speaker suggests that the global community should treat North Korea's nuclear program as an organized crime problem and increase international law enforcement cooperation. Recap by Tammy AI

I always wanted to know how in the world they found money to pay for their nuclear program... this went a long way to answering that. Great content.

This is truly insightful, vigourously researched and wonderfully presented. More content like this please FT!

Excellent investigative journalism by FT as always.

You guys kill it on your investigations and documentaries. You guys should focus on content like this!!!!!

Incredibly refreshing doc on North Korea. Stark difference compared to the dime a dozen repetitive superficial travel docs. Great job FT, your long form documentaries have been amazing lately!

Truly amazing the dedication and intelligence these guys have

I am blown away by the detailed content in this one docu. Perfect length and extremally important content.

Nice job - please make content like this on an hourly basis.

Nice job, you completely answered a lot of questions about North Korea and how they get their economy working, loved the video keep up the good work...

I want to push the like button 100 times, well done, FT! One question, what can an viewer do? whenever I watch a great journalism like this one, I come up with this question.

What I’m curious is why then the Chinese government, seemingly in full support of the North Korean trade, suddenly decided to bring down Sun City and their owner, Alvin Chau. Would be great if you guys can delve into that and see what was the reason of his demise

So much emotion in one voice. The first time I heard Charles Bradley sing was a live on radio cover of the Black Sabbath ballad 'Changes', and he knocked it out of the park.

Ft films are BEYOND amazing please increase the frequency by posting more ❤

The depth of reporting here is amazing.

This is one of the real contents we all should care about. Thank you Financial Times!

Great documentary. Keep up the good work.

Beautiful work Financial Times! Please keep it up!

This is an inevitable side-effect of the sanctions imposed on the country. As you stated, its economy would be plunged into chaos if its oil supply were to be cut off - this would likely mean mass starvation for the populous. Given this necessity and the lack of legitimate means to purchase oil, it's inevitable that this will happen. Why not just remove the sanctions? They clearly haven't worked; if anything, they've only made matters worse both for people living inside the country and those residing outside - i.e. those harmed by the state-sponsored crime resulting from the sanctions.

Another excellent report by the FT! Disturbing, but bravo!

Great show, do more of this!

More like this please, can't get enough.

I won’t lie, I am impressed by their methodical tactics

Now THIS right here is *REAL* journalism!

That last question, "Is this something we're going to have to learn to live with?", should have already been answered a long time ago. The World has been "living with" threats of nuclear armageddon since Little Boy was dropped on Hiroshima by Enola Gay on August 6th, 1945. All through the Cold War, and even into the current war in Ukraine, there has always been some Country with a Leader that has an itchy trigger finger and making nuclear threats. I'd say it's a bit late to start learning, it's part of mainstream life at this point.

Someone should write a movie script about this!

Good investigative research! Financial Times proves again the best source of information !

What a great documentary It is good to see someone linking NK to organized crime

Amazing research and content. Bravo!

Finally somethings not talked about on any other documentaries. Some things I had no idea about. Great doc

It's so sad to see that all this investigation and effort into the businesses of other countries and peoples stems from our fear of a country who does not wish to align with Western values. Therefore not knowing what they do intimidates the Western countries to then engage in actions Which yet isolate more our ability to communicate with other countries Don't understand what they are doing to work better together.

But I love this documentary, you guys done a really good job, we must give you that credit.

Good investigative reporting. North Korean regime also funds nuclear program with ransomware attacks particularly on healthcare and cyber theft from cryptocurrency exchanges. US cybersecurity & infrastructure security agency issues advisories on cyber threats including from North Korea.

I have a close North Korean friend who studies post-grad here in Vietnam. She also teaches Korean part-time. In her little NK community in Vietnam none of them wanna defect. In fact, they have to unofficially enter back into North Korea and then again out when returning home for a trip (due to official border being closed since Jan 2020).

Truly fascinating how strange North Korea is. I’m so sad for the people and how badly they’re oppressed. I pray for all North Koreans 🙏

Imposing sanctions on a country means you don't care about the ordinary citizens because it is them who suffers from such measures.

Respect to the shop keeper

outstanding piece of investigative journalism!

I remember watching a movie that had criminals that used that same torn bill method, they tore a $100 bill in half in the movie. Cant remember what crime movie it was, ive seen so many lol.

What happened to the journalist is exactly what would happen to me as a kid when my mom would send me to the shop to buy some stuff and next day remember to ask me for my change....I would stutter and make no sense😢😢😢

Everytime I see an intelligence dude come in and say something with absolute conviction, I remember the "credible evidence" of WMD's in Iraq.

Having served twice on UN panels, this resonates …

Great work FT.

Tbh most of what was said is pretty obvious. On the other hand you can’t be antagonistic to the same people you need to secure the sanctions imposed it’s just ridiculous

That's excellent journslism! There will be always ways to avoid sanctions because of greed crime and money. But I recently saw a documentary that showed the circumstances in which the North Korean soldiers are living. They are called in for forced labour, their food rations have been shortened and shortened. So , yes it's the 4.- maybe now the 3. biggest army standing. But how on earth could they ever fight? And - like in other totalitarian regimes not all we see about their amazing weaponry is the truth xxx

Perhaps the oil transported in these illegal vessels could become deteriorated and eventually break some of the machines the oil is used in.

The editing on this is spectacular.

Though there are a lot of "globalists" on here it's a good documentary on the "official" stance of the global community towards DPRK. Though I feel the Mads Brugger film "The Mole" starring Ulrich Larsson is the beat way to get a feel for DPRKs clandestine activities

This is the kind of content the MSM needs to leverage its considerable financial assets to produce.

Why isn’t this on national tv in the USA , ? or for that matter everywhere, we need shows like this on prime time tv , it might push our government to block and stop this.

Wow this is proper conspiracy stuff with real evidence and real people talking about it. Amazing insight.

Excellent analysis.

Since the 1950s, North Korea has been subjected to economic and political sanctions imposed by the United States and other nations. Would North Korea embarked on a path of developing a nuclear arms program and engaging in illicit activities had it not been subjected to these sanctions? While it is pertinent to consider the impact of the sanctions on North Korea's economic and political development, analogies have been drawn between the aftermath of World War I, where the actions of the victors are believed to have paved the way for the rise of Nazism, and the actions of the West post-Korean War, which some argue may have played a similar role in North Korea's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

I’d imagine the United States, China, UN etc are pretty happy with NK receiving some small level of oil in order to prevent a nuclear armed country from descending into abject chaos

Last time I checked, tankers are quite vulnerable to torpedoes

Excellent video and to be quite frank - pretty concerning.

excellent investigative journalism

At least 5 occasions from 2018 to 2020... let's say 20 or 30 occasions/// still not enough... big deal! great job investigating the case!

More content like this 🚀🔥

Good coverage, keep exposing evil!

Fascinating clip, well worth watching.

Sanctinps clearly are to enforced appropriately and worlds governments are really interested enforcing international laws.

It’s an awfully deep burrow to go down, yes there are criminals many are not criminals some are even religious heaven forbid! just ordinary folk trying to survive and cash in on a rare commodity for that region and to assist North Korea survival nobody wants to wipe them out Nobody!!! That’s what makes this situation so very sad :(

Makes me wonder when this stuff was written ,and when and if it’s all still going on, or is it worse..

Good journalism.

Best investigation ever. You are the best.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

Of course, where else would they get their resources? - Great content FT

I love how every country says they are upholding the law! Yet North Korea keeps on going just fine!

The Thing with the Banknote doesn't make sense I don't doubt that North Korea is trying to bypass Sanctions but two Ships stopping Side by Side so that they can put the Note together? Sounds insane

As a rule for journalism stay as unbais. Thanks for the report fellows.

N. Korea has every right to do whatever it takes to conduct trade --- it's their sovereign right to do so. And I applaud them for doing so.

He's got a country concentrated on the engineering and those pirates are elusive, no one knows why they got in the cold war

It makes me laugh, that the Governments of the world act as if they don’t know who these high end criminals are, why, they are their foot solider’s 😅😅😂😂

North korea also does illicit activities(drug smuggling,weapons smuggling,counterfeiting,insurance fraud,cyberattacks,etc)

I like how the nuke missle video they cut out the guy lighting the fuse and running away... makes it look almost real

At some point we should consider all these sanctions are NOT working and kind of driving a lot of this. We don't allow ANY alternative to criminal actions like these... Not that NK is good, they're not... but we NEED to consider maybe walking back some of the sanctions and allow things like food, medicine, fuel... things that COULD help the everyday person get a better standard of living than "barely surviving". Until THEY can stop to THINK about anything other than not starving to death... they will NEVER be able to consider their plight and situation, much less recognize the abuses they're suffering in any meaningful way to think about opposing them.

Next time do "the US and the Cartels." Thanks!!!!!!!

Excellent video! Thank you Financial Times!

My question is if UN is a positive organization why is the establishment checking to see if sanctions are hurting 🇰🇵💙🤔

Sanctions are like warning letters given to murderers

it would be strange if a mysterious torpedo hit the ship

That thing with tearing the note must be a common Chinese thing I remember Australian drugs smugglers were caught and that was part of the evidence

I knew how the north Korean economy was subsidised by a lot of elicit activities... but selling pirate dvds in 2023!!??.... now tht needs to be applauded 😂

You have to get your oil from somewhere I guess and it doesn’t give the N Koreans much option but to work with the Triads who have smuggling in that region locked down. If they didn’t the whole country would grind to a halt. If that were to happen it might be a good time to attempt a military coup or invasion, but that has it’s own headaches as it could bring China into play.

Has no one here heard of the Pong Su? It's 20 years ago. My mate was sitting having lunch on a remote part of the Southern Australian coast when ha saw the ship 'offloading'. Next minute, there were special operations police popping out of everywhere.

The decision to end American involvement in the Korean War was made by President Harry S. Truman. In April 1951, Truman relieved General Douglas MacArthur of his command in Korea due to disagreements over strategy and public statements made by MacArthur. Truman also began seeking negotiations with the North Koreans and Chinese, eventually leading to the armistice agreement.

Some people think that the world can't do without evil people😮

Very sad and underrated doc The Mole: Undercover in North Korea

I have to admit that thos is the single deepest dive I have EVER come across into the DPRK. Scary deepest. Good job.

the united states militarily occupies the southern part of the korean peninsula. the dprk uses the possession of nuclear warheads to give the united states and nato a deterrent. libya got rid of its nukes, and nato successfully invaded libya. this is why the dprk won’t give up its nukes.

A nation without arm isn't a nation. A country without economy isn't a country.

ft video content has got a lot better.

North Korea will never give up it's weapons program....never

Masterpiece

I would suggest , Russian Federation through China, supplies oil and oil derivatives, plus grain to North Korea , in exchange for military supply. Fact well known. I wonder why FT did not reveal this in their video ?

2:57 gotta admit, that they are creative.😂😂😂

So we’ll done. Entertaining and informative

Not as detailed but Roger Cook did an awesome episode on the HK triads 30 years ago. Search "Roger Cook reports hong kong triads"

Who has any right on earth to tell another other group what to do, what is right, what is wrong... when was the last time North Korea started a war in a foreign land?? What has North Korea ever done in this world???? I think the rest of the world is flat out dumb.