Vernon resident James Leigh just returned from North Korea — where very few Canadians have travelled before.
Leigh used to work for the U.S. Intelligence department and does contract work for a private military company.
His background has taken him to some of the most dangerous places in the world.
While travelling a few months ago, Leigh, who speaks Korean, happened to meet a North Korean general, who invited him to his country.
Leigh accepted, and as a precaution, erased all the photos on his iPad and cellphone. And that’s when his nightmare began.
“They seemed really upset that my iPad and my phone were erased,” Leigh said.
Leigh said things continued to go downhill from there.
“Then they put me in a detention room. I listened to them talking about me being a Donald Trump spy right away — that I was the one who was sent by Donald Trump to assassinate leader Kim Jong-Un or to get data on their military,” he said.
Leigh was held for more than two days, under heavy interrogation.
“Interrogations almost every hour,” he recalls. “I stayed in a room with a mat in it. That was my welcoming.”
Leigh began to worry he wouldn’t be able to leave North Korea. He kept thinking about American student Otto Warmbier, who was detained in the country last year.
“He took a propaganda poster as a souvenir, and he got 15 years hard labour. I was thinking, ‘I’m a done deal. This is it. This is my last big adventure,’” Leigh said.
Leigh said he was placed in a room next to American professor Tony Kim, who is currently being held for allegedly trying to overthrow the North Korean government.
Leigh said Kim relayed a message that other internationals are being held in North Korea, including Canadians.
Out of all the close calls he’s had — including being shot at in war zones — the North Korea experience was the scariest of all, Leigh said.
“I’ve seen a lot of nasty things in the world, but this was the only time that I was truly scared. I was scared not because of my fate, but because I had absolutely no control,” he noted.
Leigh said the North Korean government suddenly decided to release him — even inviting him to stay for a few more days, with government officials watching his every move.
Since returning to Canada, Leigh has been in touch with Tony Kim’s family in the U.S. Kim, also known as Kim Sang-duk, is a Korean-American professor currently detained by the North Korean government.
He also called also Foreign Affairs Canada to complain about the way he was treated by North Korea.
Leigh said Canadian government officials told him there is currently a travel advisory for North Korea and that he should have heeded the warning.