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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| N. Korea Makes US$500 Million from Illegal Drug Exports |
| 2004-08-04 |
| Japan's Sankei Shimbun, citing a report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service, reported Wednesday that North Korea has earned US$500 million annually for the past one or two years by exporting narcotics and spent some of its earnings on the military. The paper also quoted the report as saying that although the international community led by the U.S. has recently strengthened its crackdown on drug trafficking, North Korea has illegally exported over twice as many drugs as it did in the past. According to the report entitled ¡°Drug Trafficking and North Korea,¡± as North Korea saw more than a 50 percent decrease in profits made by drug trafficking as a result of having to collude with crime organizations in Russia, China, Japan or Korea in order to evade being caught, it greatly increased the amount of trafficking, thus earning some US$500 million annually over the recent years. This is equivalent to 70 percent of the country¡¯s total exports of US$700 million as of 2000. The report also said that the North started to cultivate poppies, the source of opium, from the mid-1979s as national policy and systematically exported refined opium from the mid-1980s before heavy rains in 1995 and 96 decreased the yield of poppies, which led the country to engage in mass production of stimulant drugs such as methamphetamines to illegally export them to Southeast Asian countries. Sankei Shimbun said Japan confiscated a total of 3,300 kilograms of methamphetamines over three years starting from 1999 and 34 percent of them were produced in North Korea. The report, written as supplementary material for U.S. congressional legal review, urged the U.S. to strengthen its crackdown on drug trafficking by the North in order to arrest its development of weapons of mass destruction. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #2 Was the switch from nuke development to a poppy crop part of what Carter negotiated? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2004-08-04 10:15:47 PM |
| #1 Terrorist Inc...drugs and crude oil! |
| Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-08-04 9:50:43 PM |