Former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il reportedly initiated a honeytrap programme, where female agents were sent to seduce high-ranking foreign visitors and become pregnant by their lovers in order to blackmail them into acting in favour of the nation.
According to The Telegraph, in a scheme called "the seed-bearing programme", high-level visitors to Pyongyang would be sent an attractive consort, only to find out several months later that they have a child in North Korea.
The politicians would then be blackmailed into performing favours for North Korea such as passing legislation in favour of the country and increasing aid.
The journalists trapped in the scheme would be asked to write positive stories about North Korea while businessmen would be forced to start up joint ventures with local companies to help boost the country's economy.
The revelation was made by Jang Jin-sung, who was once Kim Jong-il's favourite propaganda poet before defecting in January 2004.
Meanwhile, with their foreign features, the children of the mixed parentage would grow up as a North Korean national and would be trained into becoming future agents, fiercely loyal to the country.