Man who's travelled to every country in the world saw friend detained over 'big felony' in North Korea

A man who has travelled to every country in the world has shared one of the more harrowing experiences he had while in North Korea.

Henrik Jeppesen may be from Denmark, but he is a global citizen in every sense of the term, having spent a chunk of his life travelling the world after turning 17.

While he is now settled down with a wife and son, he once roamed the world as a nomad, visiting over 2,000 destinations and having step foot in every country, finishing with Eritrea, at the age of 28.

So it should come as no surprise that Henrik has countless stories when it comes to his many years of trekking across the Earth.

He shared how he was saved by a priest after running out of water on a hike in Samoa, while admitting that the worst country he visited was the Central African Republic, due to it being dangerous and poverty-stricken.

But even despite this experience, he admitted he would 'still would much rather live there than live in North Korea'.

Despite having an awful time in the Central African Republic, he'd prefer being there than being in North Korea for a number of reasons (Henrik Jeppesen)

Henrik calls it 'the most interesting country in the world' as there is nothing close to it anywhere else, explaining: "It's the only country where you don't have complete freedom to do what you want."

In fact, he almost got arrested while he was on a trip to the nation in the Far East just 10 years ago.

He revealed that he went on a 'little walk' away from any supervisors, something which can land you in a heap of trouble, but it was something his friend did which almost stopped him from returning home.

North Korea is already one of the most controversial countries in the world, with the regime and living conditions of locals coming under constant scrutiny from the rest of the world.

You are only permitted to visit North Korea as part of a government-approved group with a tour guide, while tourists must adhere to strict rules, guidelines and even customs when interacting with locals.

Henrik revealed that his friend almost had them thrown in the slammer due to a challenge he had set himself, to do with his friend's ashes.

Claiming that they 'could have ended up in prison', the Dane explained: "There was a friend of mine who travelled with ashes of a friend of his that was one of the most travelled people, but he hadn't been to North Korea."

The Danish travellers recalled being held up at the North Korean Airport after his friend scattered ashes in the country (Henrik Jeppesen)

"I think he tried to spread the ashes of his dead friend in every country in the world, and the guides (in North Korea) didn't allow him."

The traveller revealed that he decided to do it anyway despite officials denying him in the first place, with authorities even discovering video footage of the incident.

"He got into trouble because they found a video where he is filming himself doing it, so that could have ended us up in prison, because I think this is a big felony," he pointed out.

Speaking about the case of American college student Otto Warmbier, who allegedly stole a North Korean poster as a souvenir and was subsequently thrown in jail, before dying a day after returning to the US, Henrik suggested that the 'bad things' which may have been done to the tourist could 'easily have been me'.

He went on: "Probably more him (his friend) than me, because he's the one that did it, but I travelled with him so they could easily have put us into labour camps."

Despite calling North Korea the most 'interesting' country in the world, Henrik didn't have the best time (Henrik Jeppesen)

"We were extremely blessed to get out of North Korea alive and without going to prison - he wrote an apology letter to the Dear Leader, and that was the way we were allowed to leave North Korea," Henrik revealed.

"But if we had not, maybe if they considered putting us in prison, which would've bad publicity for the country, (I think) it might just have been by chance that we got out without getting into trouble," he noted.

Sympathising with his friend though, Henrik said that if he didn't scatter his friend's ashes, he would've had to give up his whole project.

It was a decision which could have cost a lot more than a slap on the wrist and a letter to Kim Jong-Un, though he recalled: "They did scream at the airport about how he had polluted their country, there were a lot of people that showed up."

Luckily though, the pair made it out and lived to tell the tale.