My Diplomatic Life

North Korea Military Plan Cruel Deception

November 3, 2023July 27, 2020 by Jim

North Korea Military Plan Cruel Deception is a story that once I had the full details of the aftermath several years later, quite frankly left me speechless and angry.

How To Survive 3 Years In North Korea As A Foreigner

In early 2004, I was contacted at the embassy in Pyongyang by David Hinton, the brother of an RAF pilot who had been shot down in 1952 over North Korea during the Korean war. He said he had been working for several years trying to garner as much information from a variety of primary sources as to the fate of his brother.

This information he now had in his possession. Most of the details of the shoot down were supplied by eyewitness United States Air Force (USAF) pilots including map coordinates of the site of the crash (which he later sent to me).

He then expressed a wish to be able to visit North Korea and hopefully, finally discover the fate of his brother. Could we help?

The background was that the pilot, Flt Lt Desmond Hinton, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II for shooting down two Japanese fighters had bailed out of his burning F84e Thunderjet whilst carrying out a strafing mission north east of Pyongyang on 2 January 1952. At this time during the Korean war, Flt Lt Hinton was one of a number of RAF pilots who were attached to and flying with the USAF. Despite enquiries after the war and with no further information as to his fate forthcoming, Flt Lt Hinton was subsequently officially listed as missing in action.

I knew that this was going to be a tall order to try and carry out. The Korean War itself was and still is a huge propaganda tool for the Kim dynasty. So requesting assistance in finding a hated enemy, albeit a fallen one, was perhaps a request too far.

But surprisingly, no.

Permission was granted for me to meet with the North Korean military and at the initial meeting, I provided them with all the research material sent to me by David Hinton and they said they would investigate.

The process of making this project happen, working with the North Korean military, I have covered in a previous post

North Korean Military Works With British Diplomat

North Korea Military Work With British Diplomat

November 3, 2023July 16, 2020 by Jim

British Diplomat Works With North Korean Military

North Korea Military Work With British Diplomat relates to a unique situation where a British diplomat had a close working relationship with the North Korean mlitary for a 6 month period would in itself raise more than a few eyebrows. Working for 3 years in North Korea was on the one hand a time of frustration and on the other a time of discovery in this fascinating yet enigmatic country.

Life In North Korea As A Foreigner Surviving 3 Years

Butting heads on a daily basis with the stifling North Korean bureaucracy was always a battle, but occasionally there was a glimmer of achievement and sometimes from the most unlikeliest of sources.

In early 2004, I was contacted at the embassy in Pyongyang by the brother of an RAF pilot who had been shot down in 1952 over North Korea during the Korean war. He said he had full details of the shoot down supplied by eyewitness United States Air Force (USAF) pilots and map coordinates of the site of the crash (which he sent to me) and wished to visit the area to discover the fate of his brother.

The background was that the pilot, Flt Lt Desmond Hinton, who received the Distinguished Flying Cross in World War II for shooting down two Japanese fighters had bailed out of his burning F84e Thunderjet whilst carrying out a strafing mission north east of Pyongyang on 2 January 1952. At the time, Flt Lt Hinton was one of a number of RAF pilots who were attached to and flying with the USAF. Despite enquiries after the war and with no further information as to his fate forthcoming, Flt Lt Hinton was subsequently officially listed as missing in action.

This seemed a daunting request, but nevertheless I submitted it to the North Koreans and having gone through the usual long and tortuous channels I was surprised to receive an invitation to a meeting with senior North Korean military officers to discuss the request. Soon after therefore, it was with some degree of trepidation that I and my interpreter set off to meet these senior officers at a large military base on the outskirts of Pyongyang.

Driving into the base, we stopped at the entrance guard house and I was told to leave my diplomatic vehicle parked there. Then my interpreter and I climbed into a small military vehicle with an officer who my interpreter told me would be our liaison officer for the visit.

Albania WW2 RAF Pilots Secret Grave Found

November 14, 2023July 14, 2020 by Jim

Albania WW2 RAF Pilots Secret Grave Found is a story about a small. isolated Albanian village which kept a deadly secret for almost 50 years during the oppressive, communist regime of Enver Hoxha. The secret they kept lay unmarked and untended in the local village graveyard. So, what was this secret that if it had leaked out could have had potentially deadly consequences for the village?

The story developed thus:

During the long and hot Albanian summer of 1998, the embassy was contacted by the Mayor of Saranda.

Saranda was a medium-sized coastal town and popular holiday resort in the south of the country located near the Greek border and lying directly opposite the island of Corfu. The Mayor said that he had been contacted by a resident of the village of Drovian which was located in the mountains just above Saranda.

Apparently, this villager, his family and the whole village had been living with a secret for decades.

It transpired that during the second World War when the Italians invaded Albania, an RAF fighter plane, during the course of a dogfight, had collided with an Italian machine and the badly burned British RAF pilot had baled out.

He landed just outside the village and despite the tender ministrations of the villagers, had tragically died from his wounds. The villagers then buried him in an unmarked grave in the church grounds as they did not want the Italians to find him.

After the war, with the advent of the brutal and repressive Hoxha communist regime and his denial of the extensive British military aid given to him in terms not only of material but also of British lives in defeating his axis occupiers and liberating his country, the villagers did not dare inform anyone outside the village about the hidden British grave in case they would be taken for collaborators.