45Ifyouwanttoexploreminingopportunitiesorgetwordon
Kim JongUn’shealth,youstartwithAlejandroCaode Benós.
He’sonly6,000milesfromPyongyangBy Josh Dean Photographs by Iris Humm
hemessagefromDubaiinlate 2018 wasn’tunusual.It’s
justpartofthedayforAlejandroCaodeBenóstoopen
hisemailandfindsomeintrepidcapitalistwhowantstodo
a littlebusinessinNorthKorea.
Recently,therewastheonefroma guyinHawaiiwho
wantedtoopena McDonald’sinPyongyang.That’saneasy
no.PrivatelyownedbusinessesareforbiddenintheDemocratic
People’sRepublicofKorea.“NoMcDonald’s,noKentuckyFried
Chicken,noBurgerKing,”CaodeBenóssays.Everysooften
it’stheheadoftheChurchofJesusChristofLatter-daySaintsin
Spain,askingif it’sfinallyallrighttosendovera waveofwhite
shirtscarryingtheBookofMormon, eventhoughheknows
that’sa nonstarter.OnlythosereligionsthatexistedinKorea
beforetheDPRK’sformationin 1948 areallowedtooperatein
thecountry.Sometimesa leadseemsrealenoughthatCaode
Benóscanpassit uptheladderfromhisdeskinTarragona,
onSpain’ssunnyeastcoast,totheNorthKoreanEmbassyin
Madrid—oreventohiscontactsinPyongyang.
Atfirstglance,theDubaiemailwasoneofthose.AnElena
SanchezwaswritingfromaninvestmentfirmcalledBaron
StoneCapital.Herboss,AdrianHong,hopedtomeetatthe
embassytodiscussinvestmentopportunities,ideallyinmining.
It mightseemstrangethata bankerinDubaiwouldemaila
SpaniardtotalkaboutinvestmentsinPyongyang,butsuchis
theidiosyncrasyofdoingbusinesswithNorthKorea.
“Ireceivethiskindofrequesteveryday,”CaodeBenóstells
meoneafternooninNovember.(Requestsoflatehavebeen
moretoaddressrumorsthatSupremeLeaderKimJongUnwas
ingraveconditionafterheartsurgery.)We’rewalkingaround
Tarragonaduringoneofitsinfrequentrainydays.“I’mthe
onlyreachableperson,”hesays.Hemeansthatliterally.Cao
deBenósbeganasa teenagefanboyofNorthKorea’ssocial-
iststateand,overtime,developedtiestotheregime.In2002,
afterhe’dspentmorethana decadeasa volunteercheerleader
andpropagandist,thenation’slatesupremeleader,KimJong
Il,madehima “specialdelegate”totheCommitteeforCultural
RelationswithForeignCountries.
OfficialdiplomacyisconductedthroughtheMinistryof
ForeignAffairs.AndthereareenvoysattheUnitedNations.
Butbusiness,science,culture,sports—basicallyanything
outward-facing—goes through the committee. As the only
non-Korean affiliated with the government, Cao de Benós says,
he’s the primary contact for anyone in the West who wants to
cold-call North Korea.
The woman in Dubai said her boss was looking for invest-
ments in “frontier markets.” Cao de Benós can help with a
request like this. “We have many investment possibilities,” he
says, naming mines, hotels, and IT. Or perhaps you don’t have a
specific play. In this case, Cao de Benós might arrange a meeting
with the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Even an American like me
can invest if I’m willing to violate international sanctions. “We
are happy to make business with you,” he says.
When Cao de Benós dug into Baron Stone, he couldn’t find
any information on it. Sanchez was pushy, too. She responded
to his chilly replies with what felt like a bribe: an offer to hire
him as a consultant if he could facilitate introductions at the
embassy. She then announced that Hong would soon be in
Madrid and hoped to arrange a dinner with Cao de Benós and
North Korea’s ambassador. Cao de Benós says he notified the
embassy of the inquiries and registered his skepticism. He
didn’t recommend a meeting.
A few weeks later, on Feb. 22, 2019, Hong showed up any-
way. When an embassy worker came to the door, Hong and
eight accomplices forced their way in.
For several hours, according to news reports, Hong and his
team—who claimed to represent Free Joseon, a North Korean
dissident group—menaced the staff. They isolated the only
accredited North Korean diplomat in the basement, where
they put a hood over his head and attempted to bully him into
defecting. This effort failed, and at around 9:30 p.m. the gang
took laptops and flash drives and fled in stolen diplomatic cars.
Media accounts speculated that the break-in was an attempt
to disrupt the then-upcoming nuclear talks between President
Trump and Kim Jong Un in Vietnam. The group had suppos-
edly targeted Madrid because North Korea’s top negotiator, Kim
Hyok Chol, was previously ambassador to Spain.
North Korea had no official comment. Cao de Benós the-
orizes “it was the CIA” and tells me this was “confirmed” by
friends in the “Spanish intelligence service.” The CIA has denied
involvement. Hong, sought by Spanish authorities on unspec-
ified charges, is still at large.
Cao de Benós assumes that interest in Hong will fade,
because no one cares about the treatment of North Korean dip-
lomats. He’s also sure that the sloppy assault was a Plan B. The
real plan, he says, was that dinner Sanchez had tried to set up.
It’s easier and cleaner to kidnap a diplomat leaving a restaurant.
Which means: He might have been snatched, too?
Cao de Benós laughs and pats his belly. He’s a little plump;
there’s something vaguely Ted Cruz-ish about him. “I’m too
big,” he says. “They have to feed me too much.” More import-
ant, he’s a Spanish citizen and quasi-famous. Taking him would
bebadPR.“I’mtoomuchofa publicperson.”lejandroCaodeBenósseemslikea lotofname,but
it’sactually shortened. The whole banana—Alejandro
Cao de Benós de Les y Pérez—is unwieldy for daily use and
off-brand, signifying the aristocratic lineage of Spain’s most
famous socialist.