Jack Laurence

Not even the great leader's own brother is safe from retribution.

So what on earth possessed a man from Denmark by the name of Jim Le Trichet to not only go to North Korea, but to do so undercover as a billionaire arms dealer looking to expose this regime?

Well, before we even get there, we still have to talk about his time in the French Foreign Legion, cocaine trafficking and two stints in prison.

Yes, if this was the script for a Hollywood movie, you'd be laughed right out of the boardroom.

However, this is not fiction.

This is the life of the man that the North Koreans would come to know as Mr James.

From reading your book, which again is amazing, would it be fair to say that you had quite a tumultuous upbringing to say the least?

Yeah.

I mean, you actually say in the book, from the age of 12 onward, you hated every single day of your life.

You know, you also talk about at one point, did you get taken in by a family who were adopting sort of kids from all sorts of backgrounds?

So can you explain that whole foster parent situation for us?

I mean, because, you know, obviously most people who get fostered by other parents means that they don't have parents, but you did still have your mother.

I mean, you say in your book, it was the first time in a while that you actually felt normal.

You're a bit more controlled than normal.

Yeah.

As Jim grew up, he says that he was afraid of everything and he wanted to not only confront his fears, but overcome them.

And how do you do that?

Well, by joining the French Foreign Legion, of course.

Jim, that's one hell of a bandage ripoff to go from being afraid of everything to thinking, oh, I'll go and become a legionnaire.

But overcoming his fears wasn't the only driving factor to head off and join an army stooped in history.