S9, Chapter 1: Otto Warmbier

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Tapes from the Dark Side contains descriptions
of violence and sexuality. Listener discretion is

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advised. As an American citizen detained
for severe crimes in the Dprkorea, I

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have feared that I may receive torture
or mental pressure. That was my totally

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wrong thinking. I have been given
the most humanitarian treatment in a hotel class

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guest house, with no torture or
mental pressure. I have been very impressed

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by the Korean government's humanitarian treatment of
severe criminals like myself, and of their

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very fair and square legal procedures in
the DPR Korea. I am the most

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ashamed I have been in my life
for committing a crime in such a friendly

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country, and I have no idea
what sort of penalty I may face,

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but I am begging to the Korean
people and government for my forgiveness. I

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think everyone has a bit of a
fascination with the Dark Side. I think

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it's something that everyone secretly longs forign
loves. He's strapped to the stretcher,

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moving around violently. He's got a
feeding tube, and his bottom teeth looked

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like they had taken a pair of
pliers and rearrange Them's the dark side of

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the dark. Despite his German sounding
name, Otto Warmbier was an all American

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boy. He was also Jewish on
his mother's side and was an active member

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of a Jewish campus organization when he
was in college. He also visited Israel

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on a birthright trip in twenty fourteen. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio,

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went to school at Wyoming High School
in Wyoming, Ohio, and would

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later go on to attend the University
of Virginia, pursuing a double major in

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commerce and economics. Otto's middle name
was Frederick, after his father, Fred

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Warmbier, who was a businessman and
also a proud Republican. The stars and

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stripes were displayed outside the Warrember Home, a rather lavish five bedroom house that's

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currently estimated at one point two million
dollars. Otto excelled in school and had

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these second best grades in high school
of his entire class. He was also

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a soccer player and a swimmer,
and was crowned the prom king by his

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peers. Otto was that kind of
rare kid who was smart, athletic,

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but also humble and well liked among
his peers. Walking around in the hallways

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at school, you don't really expect
seniors to come up to you as a

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freshman, and he was one of
the only guys who would come to me

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and asked me how my day was
doing, and that kind of thing.

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So you could just tell that he
was a great, really kind hearted guy

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and really really well liked guy.
At Wyoming, coming into high school freshman

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year, you don't really know a
lot of the upperclassmen. And then all

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of a sudden, I find myself
on the soccer team with a great guy

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who happened to me named Otto Warrembier, And immediately you could tell that he

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was one of the most well like
people in the school system at Wyoming.

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Everybody kind of congregated around him.
He would tell stories to all everybody on

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the team he included, and keep
practices and games really lighthearted. Everybody just

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thought he was a great guy.
So he's a very spirited guy from what

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I understand, love to travel.
So it did not surprise me when I

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heard that he was in North Korea
in the first place, and when he

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had been taken, honestly, because
that's just who he is, you know,

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he loves to adventure and that kind
of thing. He would like you

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said, he went on birthright for
Israel, Auto developed a passion for thrift

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store shopping, as he called it
memorabilia investing. A hobby of his that

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was adjacent to this was his love
of secondhand Hawaiian T shirts, which he

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was often seen wearing. In his
high school graduation speech, he opened up

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and admitted to struggling to find words
to fit the theme of the speech and

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resorted to quoting, of all things, the television show The Office. So

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I decided to resort to a fail
prof method of research. I'm sure all

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of my fellow graduates are very familiar
with, get frustrated, to give off

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and go watch DV. That was
when I got lucky. The Offspinale was

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on. I'd seen it twice but
had no objections to watching it a third

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time. I expected to get a
few lass, relax a bit, and

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come back to writing my speech with
a new, more refreshed mindset. I

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didn't expect that Andy Bernard, the
man named by the pop culture magazine Vulture

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is one of the tenth most annoying
characters on television, would say the perfect

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quote to describe this class. But
somehow he beat out Heaving Way, King

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and Tyson end as all the employees
in the show, we're beginning to go

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their separate ways and begin new,
exciting lives, much like we all are

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right now. He just described his
feelings. He didn't use any big words

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or elaborate metaphors. He just spoke. I wish there was a way to

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know that you're in the good old
days before you've actually left them. To

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me, that one sentence completely captured
the feeling in this graduation. This is

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our season finale. This is the
end of one great show, but just

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the beginning to hundreds of new spinoffs. Today mark's the splitting of a group

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that has succeeded everyone's expectations. But
our plot wasn't without its low ones.

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We didn't win flow Building ever,
and we made him been in the first

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class also ever at Wyoming to not
win the All ZHL Sports Award, Otto

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was preparing for what seemed to be
an extraordinarily bright future at the University of

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Virginia. He obtain into scholarship and
wanted to follow in his father's footsteps,

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becoming some kind of banker or businessman. In addition to the sports and academics,

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Otto also joined a fraternity during his
college days. One that was famously

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proudly nerdy. Otto obtained a finance
internship in his junior year, and over

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the winter holiday, he began mentally
preparing to take on school and this internship,

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so he decided to try to find
some kind of adventure that would take

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his mind off of his upcoming academics. Auto set his sights on Hong Kong,

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and in typical Auto fashion, he
signed up for a week long finance

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course which was also sponsored by his
university. And that is where our story

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would end if it were not for
what was called the New Year's Eve Party

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Tour. The New Year's Eve Party
Tour was a five day trip sponsored by

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a group named Young Pioneer Tours.
It's a travel company based in China who

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host a variety of tours, but
the one that they're known for is to

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the Democratic People's Republic of Korea commonly
referred to as North Korea, a totalitarian

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nation who is known for the systematic
torture of their own people at the hands

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of their dictator leader. Despite on
the surface this seeming like a risky decision

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to visit such a repressive country,
since the early nineteen nineties, only sixteen

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US nationals have ever been detained in
North Korea. Most of them were spies

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or people who admitted to illegally entering
the country, and every one of those

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sixteen nationals were eventually released. That's
sixteen out of thousands, perhaps tens of

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thousands of tourists who had entered North
Korea in the past few decades. And

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so when Auto made the decision to
sign up the North Korean Tour among twenty

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other young adventurers, he was excited, but he had no idea that despite

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it being a five day tour,
he wouldn't be leaving the country anytime soon.

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Otto would go on to be sentenced
to fifteen years of hard labor inside

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a North Korea re education camp,
and when he was finally returned to the

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United States, he was brain dead
and in a coma from which he would

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never recover. In twenty fifteen,
Otto made the journey to China to begin

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a study abroad program, and then
on December twenty nine, twenty fifteen,

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Auto flew via Beijing to North Korea
with his tour group and they began what

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would be a five day New Year's
tour. Otto Warmbier was a board an

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old Soviet jet crossing into North Korean
airspace, where the onboard announcements welcome you

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to a nation state, which is
also a state of mind. He man

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is there Immediately. Otto and his
travel group hit the ground running, going

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on a guided tour of Pyongyang,
the country's capital on billboards everywhere. Former

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leaders Kim Il sung and Kim Jong
il grandfather and father of current dictator Kim

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Jong un, Augustine Feliciano made a
similar trip two months before Otto. We

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would see normal North Koreans walking around
on the street, people going to work,

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coming home from work, Soldiers.
It's a city teeming with military,

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the world's fourth largest army. Children
everywhere walking in formation, singing praise for

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their nation. There would be a
couple of times when we would think is

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that staged. The group would stay
at the Yangakto International Hotel, which would

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play a crucial role in our story. The Angato is a towering structure on

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an island in the middle of the
Taidong River. This river cuts right through

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the heart of central Pyongyang. Jiangyang
is the capital of North Korea, and

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it also happens to be the most
populous city, with over three million people.

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The Yangakto is one of the most
popular tourist hotels, and it is

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quite massive. There are five total
restaurants in the building, including a rotating

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restaurant. In the basement of the
Yangakto. There's a bowling alley. There's

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also a pool room, a sauna
including an on call massus, a swimming

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pool, a barber shop, and
even a casino. And while visitors were

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welcome and encouraged to explore nearly every
area of the hotel, there was one

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floor that was strictly off limits,
and that was floor number five. Is

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it possible that Auto was drawn to
explore this off limits space in the same

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way he had been drawn to explore
the one country where most vacationers would scoff

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at the mere idea of visiting.
On the surface, autowarm Beer was straight

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edged, straight laced, all American
student. But is it possible that's hidden

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from the outside world? Auto warm
Beer had a dark side New Year's Eve

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celebration December thirty feet, twenty fifteen. As the sun began to set on

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the final day of twenty fifteen,
an air of anticipation lingered among the members

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of the tour group. They'd embarked
on a thrilling trip, and it was

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their last real night to celebrate.
They had a full day of touring scheduled

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for the following day, January first, but they would need to be in

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bed early that night to get up
for their morning flight on January second.

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Little did they know that the hours
ahead would lead to tragedy. With the

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conclusion of the journey drawing near,
the group decided to indulge in the revelry

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of the new year by venturing into
an upscale bar nearby. This is where

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the events of the night are contentious. According to QC magazine's thoughtful article on

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the Auto Warmbier case, which is
nearly thirty pages long, they state that,

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according to Danny Gratten, no one
got belligerently drunk, as some reports

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would later suggest. Now who is
Danny Gratton, Well, he was Otto's

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roommate during the trip. Records show
they were the only two solo travelers on

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the tour, a unique circumstance that
drew them even closer together, giving rise

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to a fast friendship. We'll hear
more from Danny later on, as he's

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one of the last people to ever
see Auto in person alive and in good

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health now. Danny says that no
one got belligerently drunk that night, and

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he seems to have no motive to
lie. That's what I initially thought.

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But this is actually my second time
recording this section of this episode because I've

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come across information that cast an entirely
new light on that final night in Pyongyang.

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I did some digging into the Young
Pioneers tour group that Otto and Danny

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were traveling with, and they seem
to have garnered quite a reputation in the

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industry, and not the good kind. Interviews with former tour group members reflect

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an organization lacking in structure, an
enthusiastic drinking culture, and an apathetic attitude

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towards safety. Adam Pitt, a
thirty three year old brit who went on

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a Young Pioneer's tour back in twenty
thirteen, said that their tour guide was

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often drunk. He said that there
was an incident when the guide had to

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interact with border agents he was almost
unable to stand and barely understandable when he

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did speak. The Associated Press reports
that a tourist in the Young Pioneers group

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once did a handstand outside of mausoleum
in Pyongyang, which resulted in a North

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Korean woman losing her job, and
in yet another stunt, the founder Britain

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Johnson notoriously jumped off a moving train
while drunk and broke his ankle. In

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that same Associated Press article, it
talks about two tourists who are on the

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same trip as Auto in twenty fifteen, and they say that the group did

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party and drink until early morning hours. I could not find a direct copy

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of the interview with these two travelers, only a brief mention in the article

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quote Nick Calder, a New Zealander
in dera O tulathale I'm sure I butchered

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that name an Irish tourist. Both
recalled that the New Year's Party tour group

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who traveled in Pyongyang in late December
twenty fifteen was cruising until early morning.

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Tw I declined to discuss his recollections
of the trip with the Associated Press,

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saying that he wanted to let the
warrember's family grieve in peace. Is it

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possible that o'toolasale knew something that he
didn't want to talk about for perhaps other

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reasons. It's important to note here
that this detail might not be important.

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Perhaps they had a few drinks,
perhaps they were all roaring drunk. But

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at the end of the day,
one thing is clear. The disreputable history

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of Young Pioneers tours leaves us with
more questions than answers. What we do

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know is that after the bar visit, the group returned to the Angato hotel.

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This is around three am. The
group begins to split up, and

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in such a large hotel, there
are many options for the group's members.

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Danny says he lost track of Auto
at that point and they went their separate

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ways. Some went to another bar
in the hotel for another drink, but

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Danny joined a group repetted for the
hotel's bowling alley. Danny says he then

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turned in around four thirty am,
at which time, upon returning to the

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room, he saw Otto already in
his bed and fast asleep. Therein lies

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our mystery ninety minutes of time from
three am to four thirty am. Where

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was Otto during this hour and a
half and what was he doing? January

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first, twenty sixteen, It was
New Year's Day and was the last full

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day of the tour. The group
started bright and early with a helicopter tour

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of Pyongyang City. This included a
flyby of the one hundred and five story

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Ryugyong Hotel, a stunning view of
the Taedong River, and a look at

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the May Day Stadium. The story
of the May Day Stadium is quite fascinating.

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It was built in nineteen eighty nine
and is the largest capacity stadium in

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the world, seating a stunning one
hundred and fourteen thousand people. We know

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that Otto and their group also visited
the Grand Monument that day because we have

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pictures of them posing in front of
it. The Mansou Hill Grand Monument is

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not so much a tourist spot as
it is a place of worship, so

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to speak. A handful of workers
stand by at all times to keep the

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area spotless from trash or debris.
Tourists are allowed to visit, but are

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encouraged to show utmost respect at all
times. The highlight of the Grand Monument

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is two giant bronze statues, each
towering overhead at twenty two meters or seventy

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two feet tall. The first such
statue is of the founder of North Korea,

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Kim Ilsong, and the second statue
is his son, Kim Jong il

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There's currently no statue of Kim Jong
un, but it is without a doubt

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that after his death he will join
his father and grandfather. The Kim dynasty

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has ruled North Korea with an iron
fish since its inception in nineteen forty eight.

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It remains to this day one of
the most, if not the most

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totalitarian dictatorships in the history of mankind. Simple pleasures that we take for granted

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every day as American citizens are not
just taboo in North Korea, but they

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can end up getting you killed or
worse, as we will find out in

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North Korea, there exists many such
fates worse than death. Coming up in

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the next episode of Tapes from the
Dark Side. The fifth floor of the

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Angato Hotel and someone who's been there. We were kind of given full rain

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of the hotel except for one floor. The elevator skipped Florm five six seventy

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nine. Ten Travel blogger Calvin's Sun
didn't want to speculate, he wanted to

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see it, so in twenty eleven
he and some friends snucked onto the fifth

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floor. He was serious fifth floor
and videotaped it. I'm tz Borden and

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I've been your host today. Thank
you for listening to tapes from the dark

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Side. Independent shows like ours live
and die by word of mouth. We

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basically have zero marketing budget, so
we rely on you to get the word

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out. Maybe it's a text group
chat, maybe it's a Facebook thread for

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00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:30.880
podcast recommendations, or a Reddit post. It might not seem like much,

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but every single time you share the
podcast name, it grows just a little

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00:19:36.920 --> 00:19:38.519
bit. Now, I know there
are many of you out there who do

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share the show, and I want
to thank you so much. That's how

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we've even gotten to this point.
So if you think of it this week,

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whether it's online or in person,
tell a friend about the show.

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00:19:51.480 --> 00:19:56.839
We have two big pieces of news
for our Patreon. First is that Patreon

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has now teamed up with Spotify.
If you listen to the show on Spotify,

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00:20:00.599 --> 00:20:06.279
you can now sign up on Patreon
and get all of our premium episodes,

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00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:11.519
add free stuff after shows, bonus
episodes, all directly on Spotify.

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I've tried it out. It's extremely
easy to link and takes a minute or

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00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:19.720
less to set up. If you
have any trouble at all, you can

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00:20:19.799 --> 00:20:26.440
message me instantly on Patreon and I'll
get back to you asap. The second

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bit of news is that our merch
store is finally open. We had it

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00:20:30.440 --> 00:20:33.359
closed for a while while we were
working on some new designs and making sure

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00:20:33.400 --> 00:20:37.519
to order samples to check the quality. Everything's good to go. We have

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three new t shirt designs and we
have new mug designs as well, with

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our classic logo on it, the
tape and the skull. I'm really happy

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with how everything turned out. You
can see all of our designs at Tapes

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00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:59.920
from the dark Side dot com backslash
Merch, and if you use our Patreon

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00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:03.960
code you get thirty percent off all
merch. That actually ends up being a

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00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:08.640
pretty good deal. I think we
also have free shipping for orders over sixty

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00:21:08.680 --> 00:21:12.599
dollars. So again, that merch
store is at Tapes from the dark Side

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00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:19.480
dot com slash Merch, and our
Patreon is just Patreon dot com slash Tapes

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00:21:19.519 --> 00:21:29.720
from the dark Side. Thank you
so much to our newest Patreon members.

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00:21:29.759 --> 00:21:33.240
You are the reason that the show
is able to exist. Jennifer Key,

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00:21:33.680 --> 00:21:41.000
Lisa Kulick, Mix Cassette Anderson,
Lindsay, Verbal, Kelly Austin, Ricky

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00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:48.200
Moody, Nicole, Tricia Chapman,
Carrie Armor, Kelly Trong, Rachel Steinburn,

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00:21:48.640 --> 00:21:53.519
Colleen Alana, and Mallory Bitterman.
Our five dollars yearly members which you

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00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:59.079
saved two months when you sign up
for a year membership, Katherine Naff and

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00:21:59.279 --> 00:22:04.960
Kate our newest nine dollar member,
Bridget h and two new producers, Santana

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00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:11.160
Savine and Tyler Ernster. Our other
fifteen dollars producers who we read out each

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week are Margaret Julia Winston, Christy
Reese, Violet Ross, Greg b Angela,

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mf Alexis, Kathleen Vanessa Miller,
Sherry Sly, Noah Schultz, Shelley

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Jones, Olivia Schmid, Ambercatlet,
Chris Schauenberg, and Gino Oi Bunco.

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If I mispronounced your name, or
if I somehow missed you, but you

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00:22:36.160 --> 00:22:40.000
signed up, then please shoot me
an email and let me know. Tapes

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00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:44.799
from the Darkside Pod at gmail dot
com. I put in anywhere from forty

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00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:48.720
to sixty hours a week making the
show, and I truly appreciate every single

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00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:53.839
dollar you can give to help support
the research cost, website costs, the

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00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:59.440
time, editing fees, and just
everything else that goes into making the show.

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Truly, I'm grateful for every single
dollar you give. If you want

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to support the show, go to
Patreon dot com slash Tapes from the Dark

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00:23:08.359 --> 00:23:17.279
Side. This is our second time
working with a writer and it was a

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00:23:17.319 --> 00:23:22.319
fabulous experience. Thank you to Crissa
Collins, who was the head writer for

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this season. Thank you to twenty
six hundred for allowing us to adapt this

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song for our main theme. Thank
you to Augusta Trevor Orum whose original music

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we used in the show. Today
and remember, until next time, try

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to enjoy the daylight. It is
still in sti