North Korea's illicit activities
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The alleged illicit activities of the North Korean state include manufacture and sale of illegal drugs, the manufacture and sale of
counterfeit consumer goods Counterfeit consumer goods (or counterfeit and fraudulent, suspect items - CFSI) are goods, often of inferior quality, made or sold under another's brand name without the brand owner's authorization. Sellers of such goods may infringe on eith ...
,
human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...
, arms trafficking,
wildlife trafficking Wildlife smuggling or trafficking involves the illegal gathering, transportation, and distribution of animals and their derivatives. This can be done either internationally or domestically. Estimates of the money generated by wildlife smuggling ...
, counterfeiting currency (especially the
United States dollar The United States dollar ( symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the officia ...
and Chinese yuan),
terrorism Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
, and other areas. It is alleged many of these activities are undertaken at the direction and under the control of the North Korean government and the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, with their proceeds going towards advancing the country's nuclear and conventional arms production, funding the lifestyles of the country's
elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (french: élite, from la, eligere, to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. D ...
, and propping up the
North Korean economy The economy of North Korea is a centrally planned economy, following ''Juche'', where the role of market allocation schemes is limited, although increasing. , North Korea continues its basic adherence to a centralized command economy. With a t ...
.


Overview

Unlike criminal syndicates, the extensive nature of these illegal endeavors, and the claim that they are directed and sanctioned by the highest levels of government, has led to the nature of the North Korean state being defined as a form of "criminal sovereignty" by Paul Rexton Kan and Bruce Bechtol. However, there are questions remaining about the level of government involvement in each of the criminal enterprises. Many commentators agree that the North Korean state has been behind counterfeiting currency, human trafficking, the arms trade, etc., but the level to which it has been involved in the drug trade after the collapse of the Public Distribution System in the 1990s is not clear as semi-private and private black markets have arisen since then and some high-ranking officials may only be engaged in illicit trade for personal benefit.


Critical assessment

The British academic Hazel Smith has argued that the allegations have a weak foundation, being largely based on the claims of a few US officials and North Korean defectors. She has pointed out that there have been very few criminal convictions. She has queried the assumption that all the activities are directed by North Korea's government. According to North Korea scholar
Andrei Lankov Andrei Nikolaevich Lankov (russian: Андрей Николаевич Ланьков; born 26 July 1963) is a Russian scholar of Asia and a specialist in Korean studies and Director of Korea Risk Group, the parent company of NK News and NK Pro ...
, the country's illicit activities never developed into lucrative hard currency earners. Instead, these activities exposed the country to international condemnation in exchange for marginal gain. Lankov suggests that smuggling was never intended to earn currency for the regime, but was simply a means of survival for diplomats whose funding was cut.


Room 39

Room 39 (or Office 39) is the primary government organization that seeks ways to maintain the foreign currency
slush fund A slush fund is a fund or account that is not properly accounted, such as money used for corrupt or illegal purposes, especially in the political sphere. Such funds may be kept hidden and maintained separately from money that is used for legitim ...
of North Korea's leader. Room 39 oversees many of the government's illegal activities (although the military also has its own illegal activity division) such as counterfeiting and drug production. In 2010, the department was reported to have had 17 overseas branches, 100 trading companies and banks under its control. By 2009, the office allegedly had upwards of $5 billion in assets, much of which was spread in banks throughout
Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...
,
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
, and Europe. In August 2014, Yun Tae-hyong, a senior representative of North Korea's ''Korea Daesong Bank'', which is suspected of being under control of Room 39, was reported to have defected to Russia taking $5 million with him. In 2015, the European Union placed the Korean National Insurance Company (KNIC) under sanctions and added that the KNIC had links to Room 39. The KNIC (which had offices in Hamburg, Germany and London, United Kingdom) was reported to have had assets of UK£787 million in 2014 and had been involved in scamming insurance markets and making investments in property and foreign exchange.


Drug trade

It is alleged that North Korea's illegal drug trade dates back to the 1970s and includes the manufacturing, selling, and trafficking of illicit drugs, as well as counterfeit otherwise legal pharmaceuticals. Production began in the mountainous Hamgyong and Ryanggang Provinces, particularly in the village of Yonsah, where Kim Il-sung sanctioned the creation of an
opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which i ...
farm. To provide a cover of legitimacy, the North Korean government uses front companies, like the Ryugyong Corporation under the control of the Korean Workers Party's Foreign Relations Department, to conduct clandestine activities. The company also holds large tracts of land within the country for the sole purpose of growing opium and each year the company sent tens of thousands of dollars in hard currency to
Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...
for his use. Unlike most companies, Ryugyong Corporation has no import or export quota restrictions. According to defector Yoon Yong-sol, during the
famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
" ere were some complaints that during the famine we should be growing grain, not poppies, but the instruction from the central government was that if we grow poppies we can sell the product for 10 times as much to buy grain. ... The only way to earn hard currency is by drugs." Reports of
methamphetamine Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...
(known as "ice drug" in North Korea) use in the country surfaced in the late 1990s. According to Isaac Stone Fish writing in ''
Foreign Policy A State (polity), state's foreign policy or external policy (as opposed to internal or domestic policy) is its objectives and activities in relation to its interactions with other states, unions, and other political entities, whether bilaterall ...
'', the production of methamphetamine in North Korea is done by chemists and other underemployed scientists. Methamphetamine is often taken as a "medication" within North Korea, which has helped to fuel its spread. As the production and sale of opium declined in the mid-2000s, methamphetamine became more pervasive. To bring in much-needed cash, the international methamphetamine trade began, spreading first to China, and with the drug being made in state-run laboratories. However, Isaac Stone Fish admitted with regard to his report: "I have no idea what is actually happening inside North Korea". China officially admitted to the drug problem stemming from North Korea in 2004, with Jilin Province being the most important transhipment point from North Korea. The production, storage, financing, and sale of the North Korea's methamphetamine trade reaches multiple countries from the Philippines, the United States, Hong Kong, Thailand, western Africa and others. In 2010, five foreign nationals were prosecuted as part of a conspiracy involving North Korea to smuggle 40 pounds of methamphetamine into the United States and to sell it for $30,000 a pound. In 2001, income from illegal drugs amounted to between $500 million and $1 billion. In a 2013 ''
Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' article, annual revenues from methamphetamine sales are estimated at $100 million to $200 million. Between 1977 and 2003, more than twenty North Korean diplomats, agents, and trade officials have been implicated, detained, or arrested in drug-smuggling operations in more than a dozen countries. In 2004, two North Korean embassy employees were caught smuggling 150,000 tablets of clonazepam in Egypt, and in that same year, embassy employees from Bulgaria were arrested in Turkey in possession of over 500,000 tablets of
Captagon Fenethylline ( BAN, USAN) is a codrug of amphetamine and theophylline and a prodrug to both. It is also spelled phenethylline and fenetylline (INN); other names for it are amphetaminoethyltheophylline and amfetyline. The drug was marketed for ...
(the brand name for the synthetic stimulant fenethylline, or phenethylline), with an estimated street value of $7 million. The government of North Korea has only admitted that individuals undertook such acts, and not at the direction of the state. According to the
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), formerly known as the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, is a Washington, D.C.-based non-governmental research organization that "seeks to raise awareness about conditions in Nort ...
, since 2001 drug trafficking operations by diplomats had ceased, with the focus then becoming the production of drugs to be smuggled by other criminal organizations. In 2003, the North Korean owned cargo ship ''Pong Su'' was intercepted importing heroin into Australia. The ship was suspected of being involved in smuggling almost 125 kilograms (276 lb) of heroin into Australia with an estimated street value of A$160 million. While four men who had landed pleaded guilty, the ship's four officers were acquitted on all charges.


Counterfeiting


Currency

Counterfeiting currency is alleged to have begun in the 1970s under
Kim Jong-il Kim Jong-il (; ; ; born Yuri Irsenovich Kim;, 16 February 1941 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second supreme leader of North Korea from 1994 to 2011. He led North Korea from the 1994 death of his father Kim ...
's direction; however, the notes produced at the time were not of high quality. Since then, and within the jurisdiction of Room 39, the North Korean government has counterfeited $50 and $100 United States banknotes using increasingly sophisticated techniques. In 1994, authorities in Hong Kong and Macao apprehended five North Korean diplomats and trade-mission members carrying around $430,000 in bills that turned out to be "
superdollar A superdollar (also known as a superbill or supernote) is a very high quality counterfeit United States one hundred-dollar bill, alleged by the U.S. government to have been made by unknown organizations or governments. In 2011, government sources ...
" (also called "supernote") counterfeits. There have been two primary reasons for counterfeiting: the first is to wage economic warfare against the United States, and secondly, to help ease North Korea's domestic economic problems. According to a report by Dr. Balbina Hwang of
American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was charte ...
, North Korea circulated $100 million in counterfeit currency in 2001. The revenues from this are estimated at between $15 million and $25 million annually. In 2013, the United States released its newly redesigned
100 dollar bill The United States one-hundred-dollar bill ($100) is a denomination of United States currency. The first United States Note with this value was issued in 1862 and the Federal Reserve Note version was launched in 1914, alongside other denominations ...
. The primary purpose of the redesign was to fight against counterfeiting and prevent the recurrence of the "supernotes" which were produced by North Korea. The
International Convention for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency The International Convention for the Suppression of Counterfeiting Currency (french: Convention internationale pour la répression du faux monnayage) is a 1929 League of Nations treaty whereby states agree to criminalize acts of currency counterf ...
is the primary treaty whereby states agree to criminalize acts of currency counterfeiting. North Korea is not a party to the treaty. Analyst
Andrei Lankov Andrei Nikolaevich Lankov (russian: Андрей Николаевич Ланьков; born 26 July 1963) is a Russian scholar of Asia and a specialist in Korean studies and Director of Korea Risk Group, the parent company of NK News and NK Pro ...
has described the evidence for the counterfeiting of superdollars as merely circumstantial. Gregory Elich of the Korea Policy Institute has argued that these allegations are unfounded. According to Elich, North Korea's intaglio press from the 1970s would be incapable of printing the supernotes, and the paper and ink would be extremely difficult for North Korea to produce. Furthermore, he says that the amounts of supernotes produced are too small to be economical.


Counterfeit legal pharmaceuticals

There have been a few cases of North Korea being implicated in the production of counterfeit
Viagra Sildenafil, sold under the brand name Viagra, among others, is a medication used to treat erectile dysfunction and pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is unclear if it is effective for treating sexual dysfunction in women. It is taken by ...
. These include: a 2004 arrest in Seoul, South Korea of a man with 4,000 counterfeit Viagra pills; and a 2005 report from Japan that North Korea was producing fake Viagra pills in factories in Chongjin, which were then sold in Hong Kong to customers of other Southeast-Asian countries (including China), and the Middle East.


Counterfeit cigarettes

Counterfeit cigarettes have been a lucrative item for the country. The trade is believed to have begun in the 1990s and greatly increased in 2002 after Chinese authorities shut down many counterfeit operations in China, which then provided added incentive, knowledge, and capacity which could be relocated to North Korea. During a 2006 Congressional hearing, Peter A. Prahar of the
Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nati ...
quoted reports that mentioned the existence of "as many as 12" factories in North Korea capable of producing "billions of packs of counterfeit cigarettes annually." The factories appear to be owned and operated by the North Korean military. The major factories for cigarette production were reportedly based in
Rason Rason (formerly Rajin-Sŏnbong; ) is a North Korean special city and ice-free port in the Sea of Japan in the North Pacific Ocean on the northeast tip of North Korea. It is in the Kwanbuk region and location of the Rason Special Economic Zon ...
, though defectors also mentioned a factory in
Pyongyang Pyongyang (, , ) is the capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is known as the "Capital of the Revolution". Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. According to the 2008 populatio ...
. In 1995, Taiwan stopped a ship and confiscated 20 containers of counterfeit cigarette packaging, which is enough to make 2 million cartons of popular Japanese and British brands. In 2004, authorities in Vietnam, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Singapore also impounded containers filled with counterfeit cigarettes. Official congressional testimony in 2006 revealed that North Korea-sourced Marlboro brand cigarettes had been identified in 1,300 incidents across the United States. Revenues from counterfeit cigarettes are estimated at between $80 million and $160 million a year.


Human trafficking

North Korea is a "Tier 3" country (those who do not comply with human trafficking laws) as listed by the U.S. Department of State and has retained this ranking since 2007. The country is a source country of men, women, and children for
sex trafficking Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation. It has been called a form of modern slavery because of the way victims are forced into sexual acts non-consensually, in a form of sexual slavery. Perpetrators of the ...
and forced labor. Forced labor is used both internally and externally. Countries which have North Korean forced laborers include Poland, Malta, Russia, China, Mongolia, and other places in Central Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. While the North Korean government claims these are "contract workers", reports claim that they are actually subjected to forced labor, that their movements and communications are subjected to strict surveillance, and that workers sent overseas do not have a choice in the type of work they will be doing nor do they receive pay for their work. It is estimated that there are thousands of North Koreans working in logging, construction, and agriculture industries in Russia. These workers reportedly only receive two days of rest each year and face punishment if they fail to meet quotas. North Korea is not a party to the 2000 UN TIP Protocol.


Arms trade

During the 1980s, North Korea emerged as a ''legal'' arms trader to primarily
Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO or the Warsaw Pact. The United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Western European nations and their allies represented the " First ...
countries, exporting relatively inexpensive, technically unsophisticated, but reliable weapons. During the
Iran–Iraq War The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
, some 90% of arms exports from North Korea went to Iran, and between 1981 and 1989, North Korea earned an estimated $4 billion from arms sales. North Korea has a known track record in proliferating nuclear and missile technology and in 2001, missile sales came to $560 million. Following its 2006 nuclear test, international sanctions have sought to limit or prevent North Korea from exporting various types of arms, materials, and technology. Prior to UN sanctions however, countries such as Japan and the United States took unilateral steps to curb such activities. UN sanctions now ban all arms, including small arms and light weapons. North Korea has developed an extensive and complicated arms trade network in an attempt to circumvent sanctions and uses front companies and embassies to traffic weapons. In a 2014 UN report,
Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
,
Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...
,
Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...
,
Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...
,
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
,
Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...
and
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
were all suspected to have bought weapons from North Korea.


Incidents

, trade in banned small arms and ammunition was relatively insignificant. Reports include: imports totaling $45,500 by
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
in 2007, $3.1 million by the
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...
in 2006, $364,400 by Ethiopia in 2005, and $121,400 by
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
in 2005. In 2009, three vessels were intercepted which were carrying North Korean weapons. Western and Israeli intelligence officials believed the weapons were destined for
Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's parami ...
and
Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
. In December 2009, Thailand intercepted a charter jet from Pyongyang carrying 35 tons of conventional weapons, including
surface-to-air missiles A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...
. In 2012, the United Nations reported that 445 North Korean-made graphite cylinders (which can be used to produce ballistic missiles) were seized from a Chinese freighter at the South Korean port of
Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, w ...
on their way to Syria. In 2013, a North Korean cargo ship seizure in Panama (carrying
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
n weapons) took place. In August 2016, US intelligence tracked a ship sailing under a convenience flag of
Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...
, with a North Korean crew sailing from North Korea to
Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
was found with carrying 24,000 rocket-propelled grenades and components for another 6,000. It was ordered and paid by a private Egyptian business, but it is believed that it was for the Egyptian Army. The value of this order and others is estimated at $23 million.


Wildlife trade

Over the past three decades, at least 18 North Korean diplomats have been caught smuggling rhino horn and ivory, though the real number is considered to be much higher. North Korean defectors have also reported smuggling of rhino horn and ivory from countries like
Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...
,
Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
, and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...
,
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
and
Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...
. Such illegal activity is considered low-risk but highly rewarding for the regime.


Evading sanctions

According to the United Nations Panel of Experts in April 2019, North Korea had developed a number of techniques and a complex web of organisations to enable it to evade the sanctions against it, particularly with regard to coal and oil. The techniques included falsification of documents and covert ship-to-ship transfers of cargo at sea. In May 2019, the United States announced it had seized a North Korean cargo vessel for carrying a coal shipment in defiance of sanctions. The
Justice Department A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
said the 17,061-tonne ''Wise Honest'' is one of the North's largest cargo ships and it was first detained by Indonesia in April 2018 but is now in the possession of the United States.


Politically motivated actions

As well as illegal money-making ventures, North Korea has been condemned for politically motivated criminal acts related to the long-running Korean conflict.


Terrorism

In 1988, North Korea was added to the State Sponsors of Terrorism list for supplying groups with weapons and for their role in the
Rangoon bombing The Rangoon bombing of 9 October 1983, was an assassination attempt against Chun Doo-hwan, the fifth president of South Korea, in Rangoon, Burma (present-day Yangon, Myanmar). The attempt was orchestrated by North Korea. Although Chun survive ...
and the bombing of
Korean Air Flight 858 Korean Air Flight 858 was a scheduled international passenger flight between Baghdad, Iraq, and Seoul, South Korea. On 29 November 1987, the aircraft flying that route exploded in mid-air upon the detonation of a bomb planted inside an overhead ...
. In 2008 President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
agreed to remove North Korea from the list after North Korea met their obligations to provide access to their nuclear program and the resumption of disabling of their nuclear facilities, but continued hostilities and the fear that North Korea could sell nuclear weapons to terrorist organisations have called for the nation to be relisted. In 2017, North Korea was relisted as a terrorist state in response to the
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...
of Kim Jong-nam, its role in the Syrian Civil War, close relationships with
Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
, and it backing Islamic terrorist organizations, especially
Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...
.


International abductions

Between 1977 and 1983, North Korea abducted several Japanese citizens. North Korea has admitted to abducting 13 Japanese citizens, and Japan lists 17 as having been abducted. There are also testimonies which list nine Europeans as being abducted by North Korea. The purposes of abduction ranges from using the abductees as translators/teachers, to become wives, and to obtain identities for other clandestine operations. During the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
North Korea abducted an estimated 82,959 South Koreans, and in the post-war period South Korea claims that a further 489 South Koreans have been abducted by North Korea.


Hacking

According to cybersecurity experts, North Korea maintains an army of hackers trained to disrupt enemy computer networks and steal both money and sensitive data. In the previous decade, it was blamed for numerous
cyber-attack A cyberattack is any offensive maneuver that targets computer information systems, computer networks, infrastructures, or personal computer devices. An attacker is a person or process that attempts to access data, functions, or other restricted ...
s and other hacking attacks in South Korea and elsewhere. After the
Sony Pictures hack On November 24, 2014, a hacker group identifying itself as "Guardians of Peace" leaked a release of confidential data from the film studio Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). The data included personal information about Sony Pictures employees ...
in 2014, U.S. government officials stated that the North Korean government was "centrally involved" in the hacking. White House officials treated the situation as a "serious national security matter", and the
Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI) formally stated that they had connected the North Korean government to the cyber-attack. Hacking has also emerged as an important source of income for North Korea. Although all estimates are considered rough, it is understood that thousands of hackers rake in hundreds of millions of dollars each year. This would make hacking a bigger source of income than weapons sales and related military services. Targets include foreign banks, microtransactions, and cryptocurrencies, from which money is first stolen and subsequently laundered. On 8 October 2018, Bloomberg reported a North Korean hacking group had tried to steal at least $1.1 billion in a series of attacks on global banks from 2014–2018, as uncovered by cybersecurity company FireEye. In 2019, the UN panel of experts on North Korea released a report stating that $2 billion USD were raised through cybercriminal operations.


International responses

The
United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
has passed multiple resolutions against North Korea and its weapons program including, UNSC Resolution 825 (May 1993), UNSC Resolution 1695 (July 2006), UNSC 1874 (June 2009), UNSC Resolution 2094 (March 2013) and most recently, UNSC Resolution 2371 (August 2017). Were the international community to fully enforce UNSC 1874, it is estimated that North Korea would lose between $1.5 and $3.7 billion. Since 1950, the United States has maintained an embargo against North Korea for their role in starting the
Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...
. The embargo and related sanctions have been extended to combat North Korea's various illicit activities and continued aggression. In 2005, under the
US Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropr ...
section 311, $25 million of North Korea's cash was frozen at Macau-based Banco Delta Asia, which the US Treasury said North Korea used for illicit activities. In 2010, US President
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
signed Executive Order 13551, which "targets North Korea’s importation and exportation of arms, importation of luxury goods, and other illicit activities, including money laundering, the counterfeiting of goods and currency, bulk cash smuggling, and narcotics trafficking."


See also

* Kippumjo * Human experimentation in North Korea *
Corruption in North Korea Corruption in North Korea is a widespread and growing problem in North Korean society. North Korea is ranked 171 out of 180 countries in Transparency International's 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index. The 180 countries of the Index are score ...
* Bangladesh Bank robbery *
Sony Pictures hack On November 24, 2014, a hacker group identifying itself as "Guardians of Peace" leaked a release of confidential data from the film studio Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE). The data included personal information about Sony Pictures employees ...
* WannaCry ransomware attack General: * Economy of North Korea *
Crime in North Korea Crime is present in various forms in North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Crime by type Murder Many people in North Korea are stricken with poverty and as a result, often resort to extreme measures ...
* Mafia state


References


Further reading

* * {{Economy of North Korea Human rights in North Korea Nuclear proliferation Political corruption Illegal drug trade in Asia Terrorism by country Foreign relations of North Korea Crime in North Korea Economy of North Korea