Seoul ( CNN ) -- Head butting stacked tiles , smashing a slab of granite on your chest with a mallet , breaking light bulbs with one finger . All vital qualifications if you want a job protecting the elite of North Korea . Propaganda footage from North Korean TV shows a staggering array of physical feats , using taekwondo and other martial arts . Visually impressive -- although it 's not certain how the skills would keep an armed assassin at bay . Lee Young-guk was bodyguard to the late Kim Jong Il for 10 years until just before he took control of North Korea . He says he went through very similar training before he was considered fit to protect a leader . `` It 's tough training , '' says Lee . `` But why do it ? It 's to build up loyalty . A handgun wo n't win a war and taekwondo serves nothing but the spirit , but it creates loyalty . '' Bodyguards 'brainwashed ' In an interview at CNN 's Seoul bureau , Lee says his training also involved more traditional methods . Target practice , physical , tactical and weight training , swimming and using a boat . But that 's only part of the preparation . A large part of the training , he claims , is ideological brainwashing . Lee says he was trained to believe Kim Jong Il was a god -- and that the only reason he was born was to serve and protect the `` Dear Leader . '' But in the almost eleven years he stood by his side , he says he saw a man surrounded by fear . He recalls `` two faces '' to the man -- describing him as someone who could give out gold when he was happy , and death sentences when he was not . `` When Kim Jong Il would arrive in his vehicle , 60- to 70-year old advisors would run away and throw themselves onto the grass . They had dust on their clothes but they wanted to hide from him , '' says Lee . `` They are scared because even when he was happy he would be rude and could chop off their heads . '' He remembers a senior official who once used Kim Jong Il 's private elevator and ashtray . When Kim found out , he sent him to a concentration camp -- where the man died . 'Abundant evidence ' of crimes against humanity in North Korea , panel says . Kim Jong Un worst of all ? Lee knew the North Korean leader was cruel when he was serving him . But , he says , it was only after he escaped to South Korea , his new home , that he realized Kim was a true dictator -- as his father Kim Il Sung had been before him , and his son and current leader Kim Jong Un is now . But he is worried that Kim Jong Un may be the worst of all . `` Kim Jong Un ended up killing his uncle , who even Kim Jong Il could not kill , '' said Lee . `` As power was handed down to the third generation , it became crueler . Kim Jong Un has created loyalty , but it is fake and based on fear . '' From experiencing the opulent palaces , food and women he says were in abundance in Kim Jong Il 's entourage , Lee then saw the other extreme of life in North Korea . North Korea : 'We were forced to eat grass and soil ' After being caught trying to escape in 1994 , he was sent to the infamously brutal Yodok political camp . He eventually escaped , becoming one of an estimated 25,000 defectors who now call South Korea home . In his new life , he has worked as a duck farmer , written a book about his life in the North , and developed a career as a media pundit , speaking about his experiences on the other side of the border . It was this desire to escape , and tell the world the story of what he had witnessed , that helped him survive the horrors of the camps , he says . Under pressure , North Korea proposes human rights visit .
Lee Young-guk was bodyguard to the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il for ten years . He remembers him as a man surrounded by terrified advisors . Lee was caught trying to escape in 1994 and sent to an infamous prison camp . He says he fears the current North Korean leader may be even worse than his father .