Pubdate: Sun, 22 Jun 2003
Source: Korea Times (South Korea)
Copyright: 2003 The Hankookilbo
Contact: http://www.hk.co.kr/board/ktboard.htm
Website: http://www.hk.co.kr/times.htm
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/916
Author: Kim Ah-young
Note: Kim Ah-young a Vasey Fellow at Pacific Forum CSIS.
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)

END NORTH KOREA'S DRUG TRADE

The recent seizure of the ship Pong Su off Australian waters and its cargo 
of more than $144 million of heroin has put North Korea's drug trafficking 
in the international spotlight.

The attention is long overdue.

North Korea has for many years been deeply involved in the drug trade, and 
unlike other North Korean misdeeds, there is little debate over or sympathy 
for its actions. There must be a strong response by the international 
community and concerted efforts to halt North Korean drug trafficking. The 
upcoming ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Cambodia provides a ready 
platform to begin this anti-drug effort.

North Korea's illegal drug production is not new, nor is it an ad hoc 
operation. South Korean intelligence believes North Korean farmers, under 
direct instructions from the leadership in Pyongyang, developed numerous 
poppy farms since the late 1970s. They estimate that cultivation areas 
expanded from 1.3 million pyong (1 pyong is approximately 36 square feet) 
in 1992 to 12.8 million pyong in 1993, and 21.8 million pyong (or 
approximately 65 million square feet) in 1994. Government factories 
reportedly process the cultivated opium into heroin, and then companies and 
diplomatic economic departments distribute it. Those sources believe that 
Aesung Chongguk (under office No. 39 of the North Korean Worker's Party) is 
in charge of selling opium overseas while Daesung Chongguk coordinates 
opium trafficking through its trading corporation Daesung Sangsa, which has 
20 overseas branches.

North Korea is thought to produce more than 40 tons of opium a year; 
estimates of revenue earned range from a low of $48 million to as much as 
$1 billion annually (if all illegal drugs, such as heroin, cocaine and 
methamphetamines are included). A recent study by U.S. Forces Korea and 
South Korea's 21st Century Military Research Institute concludes that North 
Korea exports $500 million of narcotics annually, making it the world's 
third largest opium exporter and the sixth largest heroin exporter.

North Korea's location facilitates drug smuggling and makes it a real 
concern for its neighbors.

William Bach, director of the Office of African, Asian, and European 
Affairs within the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics 
and Law Enforcement Affairs, testified that since 1976, there have been at 
least 50 arrests and/or drug seizures involving North Koreans in more than 
20 countries.

Japanese officials claim that nearly 50 percent of illegal drug imports 
into Japan originate from North Korea. Last year, Japanese authorities 
caught a shipment of 150 kg of methamphetamines. It is believed that the 
North Korean spy boat chased and sunk last year was running drugs.

Other witness accounts link North Korean drug smuggling with the Russian 
Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, and other international criminal organizations 
in Europe and Southeast Asia. While defectors' stories deserve some 
skepticism, the arrests and the consistency of the tales suggest there is 
truth to the claims that North Korea has systematically developed its drug 
production and trafficking capabilities.

That trade is now a focus of international concern as the U.S. attempts to 
build consensus on measures to tighten the economic noose around the North. 
Drug trafficking is an easy target: there are no doubts about the existence 
of the program, nor are there debates about its moral content or purposes. 
The networks that smuggle the drugs can also be used for other contraband 
(such as plutonium). Finally, cutting the flow of drugs means cutting the 
flow of drug money - a vital source of income - which could help push the 
North to the negotiating table.

Combating the drug trade will require a multifaceted, international 
strategy that demands close cooperation from all nations of Northeast Asia. 
That strategy should include:

_ Encouraging active U.N. International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) 
participation. The INCB monitors and evaluates whether international 
treaties are being enforced by member nations.

The INCB should conduct further research on North Korea's situation and 
report the results to both the United Nations Security Council and other 
international control regimes.

_ Coordinating South Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and American efforts on 
port security and sea-based interdiction. The nature of the drug trade 
requires active communication and coordination by various police and 
maritime forces.

This activity could provide a foundation for efforts to deal with other 
security issues ranging from terrorism to refugees that do not require a 
military response

_ Strengthening cooperation among organized crime units in national police 
forces. The North Korean drug trade relies heavily on partners, usually 
organized crime groups.

Increased intelligence sharing and coordination of law enforcement efforts 
will be critical to the success of any program to fight drug trafficking. 
Collaboration should be encouraged through funding, public forums, and 
training.

In early June, Japan, Australia, and the U.S. held trilateral consultations 
in Tokyo regarding North Korea's drug trafficking, and continued this 
discussion in Madrid the following week, which added EU nations such as 
Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. On June 14, the U.S., Japan, and South 
Korea issued a joint communique after their Trilateral Coordination and 
Oversight Group (TCOG) meeting in Honolulu, that expressed "concern about 
illegal activities by North Korean entities, including drug-running and 
counterfeiting, and discussed means of cooperating among themselves with 
other countries and international organizations to stop such activities.

Meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia provide the backdrop for such follow-on 
discussions. South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese officials will meet 
separately along the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting to 
discuss North Korea's illegal activities. A strong statement from all the 
assembled ministers (North Korea's foreign minister has chosen not to 
attend) condemning North Korea's drug trafficking and calling for concerted 
action to halt the flow of illegal drugs will send a clear signal to North 
Korea that the international community will not tolerate bad behavior.

The world has too long turned a blind eye to North Korea's illegal 
activities. It is time North Korea ended its addiction to the illegal drug 
trade.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager