A Wigan Warriors rugby shirt is among a mindboggling and bizarre array of exhibits at a museum of propaganda in North Korea.

The jersey sits alongside stuffed bears and gifts from Joseph Stalin, Robert Mugabe, Muammar Gaddafi, Fidel Castro and Vladimir Putin.

The International Friendship ­Exhibition was built by current leader Kim Jong-Un’s grandfather, Kim Il-Sung, as a monument to brainwash North Koreans into believing there is “worldwide support for the government”.

The Mirror was granted exclusive access during an eight-day visit to the secretive country.

But first, our man was issued with a white glove before being allowed to open one of the four-ton doors – last touched by Kim Il-Sung when he opened the exhibition in 1978.

Inside the grand building, around 100 miles east of capital Pyongyang and close to Myohyangsan mountain, lies an astonishing collection of disturbing artefacts.

More than 115,000 pieces from 188 countries cover six marble floors in this twisted museum of propaganda which proclaims the gifts as “proof” that Korean leaders “are revered and admired around the globe”.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

(Image: Daily Mirror)

(Image: Daily Mirror)

There are gifts of rhino horn from former Zimbabwe dictator Mugabe in 1985, a golden sword from Libyan tyrant Gaddafi in 1986 and a bulletproof limousine from Soviet leader Stalin in 1950.

A crocodile-skin suitcase came from Cuba’s Fidel Castro and a silver tea set from Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2001.

Three limited edition Spalding basketballs, a gift from former NBA star Dennis Rodman, are behind a huge glass case. Rodman has met basketball-obsessed Kim at least three times since 2013.

On his second visit there the star gave Kim a signed jersey from the Harlem Globetrotters, who performed for him in North Korea in 2013.

(Image: AFP)

One room features huge portraits of Kim with world leaders – including a powerful image from his June summit in Singapore with US President Donald Trump. There are stuffed polar bears and towering brown bears – gifts from firms in China and Russia.

Guarded by henchmen with gleaming silver Kalashnikovs, the centre opened on August 26, 1978, and consists of over 150 rooms covering a huge area of 70,000 square metres.

Our guide is Han Jong-Suk, a lady in her 60s with a sweet smile. She proudly tells how she devoted her life to caring for the exhibition so that she could educate the people of Kim’s “great standing” in the world.

(Image: Daily Mirror)

She beamed while revealing if you were to spend one minute looking at each artefact it would take more than six months to see everything.

Speaking through a government minder who tracked our every move in the country, she said: “I have worked here for 40 years and it is my life’s work and honour.

“The exhibition demonstrates for the world to see how respected our great leaders are and how supreme leader Kim Jong-Un is admired as the greatest leader in the world.”

As our tour continues two lifesize waxwork figures of Kim Il-Sung and his son and heir, Kim Jong-Il, come into view. We are beckoned forward and instructed to bow “in respect”.

Among vastly extravagant gifts are more subtle suggestions that this is a place belonging to an alternate reality.

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A letter of support to Kim Jong-Un from US musician Pras Michél, founder of R&B band the Fugees, is given prominence.

And in another corner, under the banner UK, is the signed Wigan Warriors rugby league jersey and ball, sent in 2014 by the UK arm of the Friends of North Korea.

Our guide tells an outrageous story that US President Jimmy Carter, after meeting Kim Il-Sung in 1984, returned home and “told the American people that Kim Il-Sung was a greater leader than all of George Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln”.

Then our minder bizarrely turns to us and says: “Do you believe in the impossible?”

As we push open another huge door on the third floor we enter a giant room with a twin propeller plane – a gift from Russia in 1958 – perched in the centre.

Our guide suggests that the plane flew into the room to land... rather than being assembled right there.

But then this is North Korea, a land where the lines are often blurred between reality and fiction.