In Pyongyang’s Korean Central Zoo, many of the animals that fill the exhibitions were sent from far-flung countries and, if North Korean state media is to be believed, their notorious leaders as well. 

This includes dictators and strongmen, like the former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh and China’s Mao Zedong.

Among these leaders’ names – collectively responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people – is Jonas Wahlström, a 64-year-old Swedish man from Stockholm.

SMITHSONIAN TO SWEDEN, SWEDEN TO PYONGYANG

Wahlström’s affiliation with the Korea Central Zoo, also known as the Pyongyang Zoo, began