Mystery Roller Coaster Rider In North Korea Identified As Junior British Diplomat Barnaby Jones

A mysterious foreigner spotted enjoying a roller-coaster ride with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and his posse sent the Internet into corkscrews. Finally, the white dude grinning politely while at the tail end of a loop was identified as Barnaby Jones, a British diplomat at the nation's embassy in Pyongyang.

The North Korean state media released photos of Kim Jong Un riding a roller coaster with his entourage last week. Mother Jones finally got to the bottom of things, fingering Jones as the joy rider.

The junior diplomat was identified in the Los Angeles Times as the British embassy's "first secretary." British officials confirmed the same Barnaby Jones was also strapped in for a wild ride with the dictator of the world's most reclusive regime. They also copped it was a strange incident.

"Pyongyang's diplomatic community was invited to the opening of the Rungna People's Pleasure Ground. This included the Chargé d'Affaires of the British Embassy, who accepted the invitation to attend," a spokesperson told Mother Jones. "While this was an unusual event, it is vital that we actively engage with the North Korean administration since we work closely with them on a number of humanitarian, cultural and education projects, which benefit the people of North Korea."

Even more surprisingly, a city that can't feed a sizable chunk of its population managed to make a pretty damned neat amusement park, according to Isaac Stone Fish, who reviewed his time at the park for Foreign Policy.

"I had low expectations for the Ferris wheels of Pyongyang," he wrote. "Boy was I wrong."