One thing about spending so much time in North Korea is that Ivan countered quite a cast

of characters there, and one of the most colorful foreigners was a man named Alejandro

Cáu de Benos.

A spaniard who used to turn up at events dressed in an North Korean military uniform.

He used to introduce himself by a Korean name, Joseon Il.

That's a name that means Korea is one.

He's a true believer in North Korea, and he's not shy about it.

Here he is speaking to the BBC World Service in 2013.

I felt very attracted for the strength of the Korean people being such a small nation, and

not only politically but spiritually, and about the certain aspects of the human behavior

that are lost in Western societies like a honor, discipline, commitment, respect for

the family that are still preserved today in North Korea, and that I feel myself identified

with.

When I first met him in Pyongyang, he told me that his interest in communism in North

Korea started when he was a teenager.

But that interest wouldn't be just academic.

Alejandro would become one of its most visible and vocal cheerleaders.

He became the founder and president of the Korean Friendship Association, the KFA.

That's a volunteer group for North Korea fans that says it has more than 17,000 members

in 120 countries.

The KFA says it aims to show the reality of North Korea to the world.

For Alejandro, that includes denying all evidence of the regime's dire human rights record,

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