Policy Area: Terrorism

International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, State Dept., March 2004.

North Korea

I. Summary

For decades North Koreans have been apprehended for trafficking in narcotics and engaging in other forms of criminal behavior, including passing counterfeit U.S. currency. During 2003, there was one major heroin trafficking incident linked to North Korea. The “Pong Su,” a vessel owned by a North Korean enterprise, was seized by Australian Federal Police (AFP) and other Australian security forces in mid-April 2003 after apparently delivering 125 kilograms of heroin to criminals at an isolated beach near Lorne, Australia. Another incident with a connection to North Korea occurred in June in Pusan, South Korea, where customs authorities seized 50 kilograms of methamphetamine from a Chinese vessel that had stopped at the port of Najin, North Korea, before arriving in Pusan. There were no methamphetamine seizures linked to North Korea in Japan in 2003. The “Pong Su” seizure and numerous drug smuggling incidents linked to North Korea over the past several decades, reflect official involvement in the trafficking of illicit narcotics for profit, and make it highly likely, but not certain, that P'yongyang is trading narcotic drugs for profit as state policy.

II. Status of Country

Developments During 2003. Defectors and informants report that large-scale opium poppy cultivation and production of heroin and methamphetamine occurs in the DPRK. A defector identified as a former North Korean high-level government official testified in May 2003 before the U.S. Senate that poppy cultivation and heroin and methamphetamine production were conducted in North Korea by order of the regime. The government then engaged in drug trafficking to earn large sums of foreign currency unavailable to the regime through legal transactions. The testimony and other reports have not been conclusively verified by independent sources. Defector statements; however, are consistent over years, and occur in the context of regular narcotics seizures linked to North Korea. As discussed below, there was one major heroin seizure in 2003 linked to North Korea, and two shipments of methamphetamine were seized in South Korea that had some connection to the DPRK. There is still no evidence that illicit drugs trafficked from the DPRK has had an impact on the United States, directly or indirectly.

Drug Seizures with a DPRK Connection. In April of 2003, the “Pong Su,” a North Korean merchant vessel of about 4000 tons displacement, flying a flag of convenience, was seized by Australian military Special Forces, who boarded the vessel by rope descent from a helicopter after a four-day chase in heavy seas. The vessel, its North Korean master, and its crew were brought into Sydney harbor where all aboard were charged with involvement in narcotics trafficking. In addition to the regular crew of the vessel, those charged included a North Korean identified as a “Political Secretary” of the ruling Communist Workers’ Party in North Korea.

Australian Federal Police had also taken three other individuals into custody, two of whom were found in possession of 50 kilograms of very pure heroin. Investigations revealed that these individuals were part of a shore party that apparently rendezvoused with the “Pong Su” at an isolated surfing beach near Lorne, Australia, to receive the narcotic shipment. The narcotics were apparently dispatched from the “Pong Su” in a dinghy. High seas, not seen for three years in this surfing area, caused the dinghy to capsize, dumping its cargo and the two crew members into the surf. Only one of them made it alive to shore; the other was discovered buried in a crude grave. The survivor was taken into custody by Australian Federal Police and charged with heroin trafficking.

A total of 125 kilograms of pure heroin was eventually seized in connection with the “Pong Su” incident. The vessel remains in Australian custody, and all involved in the incident-the shore party; the crew, captain, and North Korean “Party Secretary” on board the “Pong Su”-are on trial in Australia.

The “Pong Su” itself is owned by a North Korean trading company of the same name, but was flying a flag of convenience at the time of its seizure. The vessel is known to have serviced a number of ports in Northeast and Southeast Asia before arriving off the coast of Australia. Inspection after its seizure in Australia revealed that the boat had been crudely modified, possibly to conceal its cargo of narcotics. The vessel carried no cargo, and no cargo awaited it in Australia. It did not comply with normal commercial procedures, such as announcing its presence in Australian waters to Australian Customs. And, when challenged repeatedly by police and customs officials to come into port, it refused and led police on a desultory four-day chase in high seas. In the wake of the “Pong Su” incident, several countries in East Asia, notably Japan, where North Korean-linked methamphetamine shipments have been seized regularly since the mid-1990s, increased their scrutiny of North Korean shipping.

In early June, 50 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in a cargo container were seized by customs officials in Pusan, South Korea. The container had apparently been packed in China, shipped by rail to the North Korean port of Najin, and loaded there aboard the Chinese freighter “ChuXing” before it arrived in Pusan and was seized by South Korean Customs. Initially, the drugs were said to be North Korean in origin. The same vessel involved in this seizure, the “ChuXing,” had carried a container from Najin to Pusan in November 2001 that was found to have 91 kilograms of methamphetamine concealed in noodle packages originating from China. Although the source of the methamphetamine carried by the “ChuXing” in both instances is unclear, the incidents suggest collusion between Chinese drug traffickers and elements in North Korea and indicate that North Korea is a transshipment point for illicit narcotics intended for distribution in the region.

Japan is one of the largest markets for methamphetamine in Asia, with an estimated annual import of 10-20 metric tons. Traffickers from the DPRK have targeted the Japanese market in the past, and there have been regular, large seizures of DPRK methamphetamine in Japan since the mid-1990s. This year Japanese law enforcement seized 447 kilograms of methamphetamine through November of 2003, but none of it can be linked to North Korea. In the past, Japanese authorities expressed the belief that roughly 30 percent of methamphetamine seized in Japan is connected to the DPRK.

North Korea Claims Interest in UN Drug Treaties. North Korean authorities have expressed interest in bringing their domestic narcotics-control legislation into compliance with international norms and eventually becoming a party to the major international narcotics control treaties, especially the 1988 UN Drug Convention. The North Koreans are seeking advice from UN agencies, including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, on redrafting their narcotics-control legislation. Some UN-member governments have expressed skepticism about the DPRK’s motives, suggesting that the DPRK's request for advice and expressed interest in international counternarcotics cooperation are designed to divert attention from allegations of DPRK state trading of narcotics.

DPRK Likely State Trading Narcotics. State trading of narcotics is a conspiracy between officials at the highest levels of the ruling party/government and their subordinates to cultivate, manufacture, and/or traffic narcotics with impunity through the use of, but not limited to, state-owned assets. Law enforcement cases over the years have not only clearly established that North Korean diplomats, military officers, and other party/government officials have been involved in the smuggling of narcotics, but also that state-owned assets, particularly ships, have been used to facilitate and support international drug trafficking ventures.

The “Pong Su” narcotics seizure occurred within the context of a range of criminal activities perpetrated by North Korean officials. Those activities include the September 2002 admission by DPRK officials of involvement by state security in the kidnapping of a group of Japanese nationals held captive in North Korea for several decades. North Korean officials have been apprehended for drug trafficking and other offenses in countries around the world and have used diplomatic pouches to conceal transport of illicit narcotics. Numerous North Korean defectors have publicly stated that opium was grown in North Korea and refined into heroin, which then was trafficked under the direction of an office of the ruling Communist Party of North Korea. Information developed by law enforcement in Japan, on Taiwan, and elsewhere has repeatedly pointed to the involvement of DPRK officials and DPRK state-owned assets in narcotics trafficking. Specific examples of involvement of officials and state assets include calls at North Korean ports by traffickers' boats to pick up drugs, travel by traffickers to North Korea to discuss aspects of the trafficking operation, and suspected drug trafficking by North Korean patrol vessels, which were thought to engage only in espionage.

DPRK-linked drug trafficking has evolved over the years from individual DPRK officials apprehended for trafficking in narcotics in the 1970s and 1980s to the apparent direct involvement of military officials and vessels providing drugs within North Korean territory to trafficking organizations for wider distribution in East Asia. The “Pong Su” incident seemingly signals a further shift in North Korean involvement in drug trafficking. It is the first indication that North Korean enterprises and assets are actively transporting significant quantities of illicit narcotics to a designated destination outside the protection of DPRK territorial boundaries. Information has also been acquired indicating that North Koreans, employed by state-owned enterprises located in various Asian countries, have attempted to arrange large-scale drug transactions with undercover narcotics officers. Informants have reported traveling to North Korea as guests of the government to meet with military officials to arrange drug deals. Although some of the information gathered is incomplete or unverified, the quantity of information and quality of many reports give credence to allegations of state sponsorship of drug production and trafficking that can not be ignored. It appears doubtful that large quantities of illicit narcotics could be produced in and/or trafficked through North Korea without high-level party and/or government involvement, if not state support.

DPRK spokespersons deny any state involvement in criminality, ascribe that criminality to individuals, and threaten punishment under DPRK laws. However, year-after-year, incidents pointing towards increasingly large scale trafficking in narcotics, and other forms of criminality linked to the DPRK, accumulate.

The cumulative impact of these incidents over years, in the context of other publicly acknowledged behavior by the North Korean such as the Japanese kidnappings mentioned above points to the likelihood, not the certainty, of state-directed trafficking by the leadership of North Korea. What we know about North Korean drug trafficking has come largely from investigation of trafficking operations like that of the “Pong Su”, which have gone wrong, and thus come to the attention of authorities. We know much less about the way North Korea is led and administered, thus the continuing uncertainty.

There is also strong reason to believe that methamphetamine and heroin are manufactured in North Korea as a result of the same state directed conspiracy behind trafficking, but we lack reliable information on the scale of such manufacturing. The United States will continue to monitor developments in North Korea to test the validity of the judgment that drugs are probably being trafficked under the guidance of the state, and to see if evidence emerges confirming manufacture of heroin and methamphetamine.

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