Government boosts drug trade
For lack of many other ways of making significant amounts of money, North Korea’s young new leader is falling back on the tried-and-true family business of producing and trafficking heroin. Faced with a flood of the drug coming over the border, Chinese authorities have embarked on a crackdown and recently executed three North Korean drug smugglers. North Korea started exporting drugs in 1992 and managed the operation through an agency of the ruling Workers’ Party. A Chinese military journal has reported that North Korea produces 40 tonnes of opium a year, generating up to $200 million a year in revenue.
