Since the state of North Korea was founded in 1948, the Kim family has ruled over its people with total, unyielding power.

While its southern neighbour has flourished into one of the world's most technologically advanced and economically prosperous nations, the 'hermit kingdom' remains largely stuck in the past.

Much of its subjugated population is starving, has little or no access to healthcare and medication considered rudimentary in developed countries, and for the most part lives life in total isolation from the outside world.

Instead, the latest descendant of the Kim bloodline - incumbent supreme leader Kim Jong Un - has dumped almost all his nation's wealth into the pursuit of an obsessive mission: to cultivate the globe’s most powerful 'strategic arsenal' of missiles and nuclear devices.

But why is Kim so hell bent on arming himself to the teeth at the expense of his people? And why has the population not revolted against the de-facto monarchy after decades of neglect?

Here, World Beyond The West explains how North Korea came to be thanks to Kim Jong Un’s grandfather Kim Il Sung, explores the methods its supreme leaders have used to cultivate their omnipotence, and reviews the evidence to suggest that Kim Jong Un is preparing to test a new nuclear weapon.

Ethiopia’s Tigray war was recently described by the White House as one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world – but you’d have had to go out of your way to know much about it. This episode will give you an essential breakdown of the conflict and how it came to be, cover the key terms of the newly signed peace deal, and examine the factors that could put it in jeopardy.

The focus for audio log number one is Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin – the Russian leader who has been in power in one position or another since 1999 and is the chief architect of Europe’s biggest armed conflict since the Second World War ended in 1945.

World Beyond The West explores how Russia’s president became the isolated, idealistic autocrat we see today, sheds light on the factors that play into his decision making and explains why it’s most likely going to be very difficult to negotiate a peaceful end to the war in Ukraine.