Meeting Kim Jong-il's poet laureate, Jang Jin-sung
Jang Jin-sung was the former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's poet laureate and propagandist. He is now one of the most high profile figures to defect from the country and has written a book about his experience called Dear Leader, with the academic Shirley Lee - who acts as his translator.
"The day I met the leader the facade was torn, I realised there were two Kim Jong-ils in this world; one, a man that the party machinery had created and the other who was standing in front of me," he tells the BBC's Mishal Husain.
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Wednesday 9 May 2014.
09 May 2014
- From the section Entertainment & Arts