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Dutch magician performs for North Korean kids, proving you can find joy just about anywhere

Jesper Grønkjær’s sense of humor and awe has inspired smiles around the globe.

via Freeport Traveler/YouTube

Jesper Grønkjær performs magic for children in North Korea.

North Korea is the most oppressive place in the world, and its people lack freedom of speech, press, or movement. The government, headed by Kim Jong Un, controls all aspects of its citizen's lives, and those who stand up against the regime are punished harshly. It’s also hostile to people outside the country for fear that outside ideas could destabilize the regime.

The country is so isolated from the rest of the world that it just recently opened its border to allow a small number of tourists to visit its Special Economic Zone for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2024, North Korea demonstrated its alliance with Russia by permitting more than 800 of its citizens to visit the isolated nation.

Another of North Korea’s recent visitors was Dutch magician and adventurer Jesper Grønkjær, who set out to see if he could manage to get a smile from its citizens. “I’ve spent my life proving one universal truth: a smile is the shortest distance between all people on Earth,” Grønkjær said.

"We know you can suppress people, but you can't suppress a smile. I will investigate that, and where better to do it than in one of the strictest countries in the world?” he opens his video on the Freeport Traveler YouTube page. When Grønkjær visited North Korea, he was accompanied by two guards wherever he went, and his passport was taken from him. At night, he was locked in his hotel like a jail cell. However, he still elicited huge grins from children and adults alike as he wowed them with magic tricks with animal balloons, a stuffed ferret, red foam balls, card tricks, and much of his joyful brand of Abracadabra.

- YouTubewww.youtube.com

While visiting North Korea, Grønkjær watched the country’s “Day of the Sun Celebrations” at Kim Il-Sung Square in North Korea. Held each year on April 15th, the holiday celebrates the birthday of Kim Il-Sung, the country's founder, and features dancing, military tests, parades, and concerts. For North Koreans, the holiday is akin to Christmas.

Grønkjær’s trip to North Korea isn’t the only exotic and potentially dangerous place where he has performed magic. He has also performed for Indigenous people in Peru, the descendants of the Incas in the Andes mountains, and the Masai warriors in Tanzania. The magician of 20 years has also performed for orphanages in Uganda, the jungles of Irian Jaya, the ice caps of Greenland, and the Las Vegas strip.


Grønkjær uses his adventurous expeditions as subject matter for his various lectures, print articles, and appearances on Danish television. When he’s back home, he performs more than 225 nights a year for family events, circuses, weddings, and corporate parties.

In a world where it can feel like the people in North Korea, Tanzania, Peru, or Denmark are a world away culturally and politically, Grønkjær’s work shows that no matter where you live on the planet or what language you speak, we all share the same sense of wonder and humor. While nefarious forces in the world work to drive us apart, he proves it takes very little for all of us to realize our shared humanity.

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Joy

Magician explains the incredible power of empathy using his best tricks

Empathy is magic.

via Nikolay Ivanov/Pexels and Liza Summer/Pexels

A magician does a card trick and two women embrace.

Ryan Modjeski, the Executive Director of Empatico, has found an interesting way of sharing the benefits of empathy — by using magic. Empatico is a video-meeting platform for educators that helps foster empathy among students through meaningful connections around the globe.

Although teaching people interpersonal skills through magic may seem strange, studies show that visual demonstrations help people remember and recall information.

In the video, he uses a card trick to explain how empathy makes us more resilientby fostering connections with others.

“With empathy, you build resilience,” Modjeski says in the video. “So, then, no matter how hard life is, no matter how shuffled up or jumbled up things are. No matter how much life pushes down on you. When you're empathetic and you're connected with yourself and with others. You always come on top.”

The Magic Of Empathy

In the second video, he uses a handkerchief trick and the mythical Green and Orange people's story to show how empathy breaks down barriers between different types of people. “How do we get Green people and Orange people to connect?” he asks. “The answer is with empathy. When we learn how to listen to each other, how to be kind, how to hear each other's stories.”

FInally, he uses four glasses of water to show the different types of empathy: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral. “Now, this might seem like a lot, but in fact, when you put in a little effort and you open up your heart, well you can do anything,” he concluded the video.

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Family

Dad and kid demonstrate a simple-yet-impressive illusion to wow your friends and family

Get the timing right on this magic trick and a kid will “appear” out of nowhere.

@MindBlownMagicIllusion/YouTube

Anyone can do this trick with a little practice.

Magic tricks and illusions never fail to fascinate us, even in the age of the internet when the secrets how many of them work are available to anyone with reasonably good Googling skills. But even when we know how a trick works, it's still delightful to witness a flawless execution that allows our minds to sit in that sweet suspension of disbelief for a bit.

There are still some tricks that true masters of illusion have managed to keep completely secret, but you don't have to get that complex to wow your friends and family. In fact, with just some cardboard and gift wrap and a little practice to get the timing down, you can make a child seemingly appear out of nowhere.

In a split-screen video shared by @MindBlownMagicIllusion on YouTube, a dad and child demonstrate what the audience sees during the trick and what's happening behind the scenes to create the illusion at the same time.

In the audience view, the man opens a door on a gift-wrapped box, revealing nothing inside of it. Then he walks around the back and opens the back door, showing that no one is behind it, either. He walks through the opening, then back around the whole thing, closing both doors. Then he walks around to the back of the box, opens the front door, and voila! There's a kid inside!

Watch the "Front View" on the bottom of the screen first to see what the audience sees, then rewatch again focusing on the "Back View." It's quite simple, but the effect is impressive nonetheless.

It wouldn't take much work to build a box like this and could be a fun little party trick at friend and family gatherings. And it doesn't need to be Christmas-themed, either. The kid just needs to be old enough to know the cues and move in such a way that people won't see them, but it's not terribly complicated.

People in the comments loved the family fun as much as they did the magic. There's just something about seeing a dad and kid doing something like this together, taking the time to get it down and enjoying the heck out of the whole process, that is surprisingly touching.

"This is the most wholesome family moment I have ever seen I love this a dad and son having fun is so precious," wrote one person.

"This is the wholesome content I need in my life. Thanks for sharing," wrote another.

"That is truly one of the best dads in the world. You can tell with the look on the child's face that he was having an awesome time," wrote another.

"Just imagining the planning and preparation for this moment gives me so much joy. You know they loved it the whole way through," shared another.

Here's to awesome dads, willing kids and the joy and wonder of magic. Follow @MindBlowingMagicIllusions on YouTube or visit mindblownmagic.com for more free magic trick and sleight-of-hand tips.

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Pop Culture

13-year-old autistic magician wows judges on 'Britain's Got Talent'

Simon Cowell remarked that “there's something really, really incredible” about the Irish teen.

via Britain's Got Talent/YouTube

Cillian O'Connor wows judges on "Britain's Got Talent."

Cillian O'Connor, a 13-year-old from County Meath, Ireland, wowed judges on “Britain’s Got Talent” on April 15 by making cards appear out of nowhere, making milk disappear and conjuring up a huge jar of jelly beans for Simon Cowell.

The appearance would have been incredible for any magician, let alone a teenager, but O’Connor’s was even more remarkable because he has autism spectrum disorder and dyspraxia.

Social anxiety is prevalent in people with autism, with reports showing it could be as high as 50%. Further, dyspraxia is a neurodevelopmental condition that makes it difficult for people to perform motor skills. Every magician needs two things: being comfortable in front of an audience and above-average fine motor skills. O’Connor believes that magic has helped him to develop both.

Before studying the art of magic, O’Connor says he didn’t want to be within “50 feet” of people. But all that changed after picking up his new skill.

“I have learned that having autism is not a disability, it’s an ability. When I was younger, I was unable to interact with people,” O’Connor said during his performance. “I felt a bit empty, incomplete. I felt invisible. After discovering magic, my life changed. It was like a light switch coming on inside my head."

“I found a way to interact with people through my magic,” he added.

During his routine, O'Connor took the audience on a journey. He discussed the transformative power of magic while transporting milk across the stage, helping Simon Cowell guess the exact number of jelly beans in a jar and pulling a 7 of diamonds out of nowhere.

And he did it all with amazing dexterity and confidence on stage.

After his performance, he received a standing ovation from the audience, and all four judges gave him “yesses” to move on to the next round.

Simon Cowell was particularly impressed—no easy feat.

“Wow, you are unbelievably talented. Seriously,” Cowell said, noting that the jelly bean trick freaked him out. “There is something really, really incredible about you, and I do believe in magic, and you are such an amazing performer. Brilliant, brilliant.”

Judge Bruno Tonioli held back tears when giving his appraisal.

“I was totally, totally captivated by what you were doing,” he exclaimed. “For somebody so young, it’s an incredible quality. You have a fantastic future in front of you.”

After the judges passed O’Connor, his mother rushed to the stage and hugged him.

“Six years ago our quiet, shy, anti-social, little boy saw a little girl, Issy Simpson, perform Magic on Britain's Got Talent. Cillian became obsessed with Magic, and he always dreamed of someday being just like that #youngmagician,” she wrote on Facebook.

“When I grow up, I want to be a magician,” O’Connor said before his routine. “What I like about magic is just trying to make people smile." Well, Cillian. There’s no need for you to wait to grow up to be a magician. After that performance, you have all the right in the world to start calling yourself one now.

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