North Korea's illicit activities

The alleged illicit activities of the North Korean state extend to the manufacture and sale of illegal drugs, the manufacture and sale of counterfeit goods, human trafficking, arms trafficking, counterfeiting currency (especially the United States dollar and Chinese yuan), terrorism, and other areas. Many of these activities are undertaken at the direction and under the control of, the North Korean government and the ruling Korean Workers' Party, with their proceeds going towards advancing the country's nuclear and conventional arms production, funding the lifestyles of the country's elite, and propping up the national economy.

Unlike criminal syndicates, the extensive nature of these illegal endeavors, and the fact 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 foreign policy experts such as Paul Rexton Kan and Bruce Bechtol.

However, there are questions remaining about the level of government involvement in each of the criminal enterprises. There is little doubt 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.

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 Hamkyung and Yangkang Provinces, particularly in the village of Yonsah, where Kim Il-sung sanctioned the creation of an opium farm.

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