Jack Laurence

So when I began creating this series, I was searching far and wide for stories of incredible survival, and I'm sure you'll agree that we've certainly found many of those.

And at the very start of this project, I said these situations are ones that people either found themselves in unwillingly, such as Michael Thexton and the 1986 Pan Am plane hijacking, or Barry Hoffs and his 10-year ordeal in an Indian prison.

And then, well, then there's those who have actively placed themselves in potentially highly dangerous and life-threatening situations.

And today's guest, well, he most certainly falls smack bang in that category.

Chapter one.

I was there to work on my fear.

Hello?

Here he is.

Can you see me?

I can't see you, no.

There he is.

I feel like I should have the North Korean national anthem ready just to play on your arrival, sir.

North Korea.

You only have to say the name and it evidently invokes images of a brutal regime, a country controlled by a dictatorship that stretches back to 1948, when the founder and first supreme leader Kim Il-sung took power.

It's a country that is shrouded in secrecy.

And while some mock the regime and its leaders, of course, the now Kim Jong-un, there are plenty of people, including the country's own, that suffer at the brutality of those in power.

North Korea is a country that you can travel to.

However, it is strongly advised against by practically all Western governments to do so.

Should you decide to go against this advice and indeed make the trip to the DPRK, then be warned.

You better be an obedient tourist, because if not, well...