North Korean Defector Tells U.S. Congress of Heroin Production
Washington, May 20 (Bloomberg)
The North Korean government has been helping to finance its survival for more than a decade through the production and sale of heroin, a former North Korean official told Congress.
The late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung ordered the effort to begin ``in earnest'' in the late 1980s, the former official told a Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee. He was hidden from audience view and was identified only as ``high-ranking.''
``Kim Il Sung told the people to earn hard currency by selling heroin and selling opium because he needed cash,'' said the official, who spoke through a translator.
North Korea's alleged drug smuggling efforts gained new prominence last month when a North Korean ship, named the Pong Su, was found trying to deliver a 110-pound shipment of heroin, worth about $50 million, to a fishing boat off the south Australian coast.
The discovery came as the U.S. and other countries already were engaged in efforts to convince North Korea it should resume compliance with a 1994 agreement under which it promised to abandon efforts to produce nuclear weapons.
The incident helps prove that the U.S. is facing a government willing to violate international laws governing narcotics as well as arms proliferation, said Senator Peter Fitzgerald, chairman of the subcommittee for international security matters.
``North Korea is essentially a crime syndicate with nuclear bombs,'' said Fitzgerald, a Republican of Illinois.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell previously told a Senate committee the Pong Su incident showed the North Korean government ``thrives on criminality.'' The North Korean government denied the charge.
Extent of Production
North Korea uses its diplomats and businessmen to carry out the drug trade, which also includes methamphetamines, the unidentified former North Korean official, who defected in 1998, told the Senate subcommittee today.
U.S. and international authorities had previously reported North Korea's cultivation of opium used to make heroin, although without certainty over the scale of the operation or its official authorization.
North Korean diplomats since the 1970s have been caught violating narcotics laws overseas, the U.S. State Department said in March in its annual strategy report on international narcotics control.
``Despite close and careful monitoring of North Korea by many law enforcement and foreign affairs agencies, the United States has not been able to determine the extent to which the North Korean government is involved in manufacturing and trafficking in illegal drugs,'' the department said.
Political Considerations
Part of that official U.S. uncertainty may have been due to a law requiring additional U.S. sanctions on any country found to have 1,000 hectares of more of opium under cultivation, said Nicholas Eberstadt, an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, a private policy research group.
The U.S. hasn't certified North Korea to be exceeding that level, although evidence points to a much larger figure, Eberstadt said. The accompanying sanctions would make negotiations with North Korea more difficult, he said.
Robert Gallucci, who negotiated the 1994 agreement during the Clinton administration, recommended that the U.S. take steps to intercept North Korean narcotics shipments. China, however, may be an obstacle, he said.
``We have to wonder to the extent to which they'll cooperate with us,'' Gallucci said.
The Council on Foreign Relations, in a report yesterday on North Korea, criticized President George W. Bush, saying he failed to negotiate more aggressively over North Korea's rejection of the 1994 agreement.
Interim Agreement Recommended
North Korea has insisted that the U.S. negotiate the matter one-on-one. Bush has insisted that the talks include such allies as South Korea and Japan, which also are directly affected by North Korea's weapons efforts.
The council, a policy research organization, said Bush should try to quickly conclude an interim agreement with the North Koreans that tests their intentions. The U.S. should then be prepared to work with its allies to impose tough measures in the case of failure, including new economic sanctions and a naval blockade of North Korea, it said.
U.S. and North Korean officials held a preliminary round of talks last month in Beijing without any agreement on further negotiations.
The White House said yesterday that it is considering holding more talks with North Korea over its nuclear program and will discuss the issue when Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the U.S. this week.
Washington, May 20 (Bloomberg)
The North Korean government has been helping to finance its survival for more than a decade through the production and sale of heroin, a former North Korean official told Congress.
The late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung ordered the effort to begin ``in earnest'' in the late 1980s, the former official told a Senate Governmental Affairs subcommittee. He was hidden from audience view and was identified only as ``high-ranking.''
``Kim Il Sung told the people to earn hard currency by selling heroin and selling opium because he needed cash,'' said the official, who spoke through a translator.
North Korea's alleged drug smuggling efforts gained new prominence last month when a North Korean ship, named the Pong Su, was found trying to deliver a 110-pound shipment of heroin, worth about $50 million, to a fishing boat off the south Australian coast.
The discovery came as the U.S. and other countries already were engaged in efforts to convince North Korea it should resume compliance with a 1994 agreement under which it promised to abandon efforts to produce nuclear weapons.
The incident helps prove that the U.S. is facing a government willing to violate international laws governing narcotics as well as arms proliferation, said Senator Peter Fitzgerald, chairman of the subcommittee for international security matters.
``North Korea is essentially a crime syndicate with nuclear bombs,'' said Fitzgerald, a Republican of Illinois.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell previously told a Senate committee the Pong Su incident showed the North Korean government ``thrives on criminality.'' The North Korean government denied the charge.
Extent of Production
North Korea uses its diplomats and businessmen to carry out the drug trade, which also includes methamphetamines, the unidentified former North Korean official, who defected in 1998, told the Senate subcommittee today.
U.S. and international authorities had previously reported North Korea's cultivation of opium used to make heroin, although without certainty over the scale of the operation or its official authorization.
North Korean diplomats since the 1970s have been caught violating narcotics laws overseas, the U.S. State Department said in March in its annual strategy report on international narcotics control.
``Despite close and careful monitoring of North Korea by many law enforcement and foreign affairs agencies, the United States has not been able to determine the extent to which the North Korean government is involved in manufacturing and trafficking in illegal drugs,'' the department said.
Political Considerations
Part of that official U.S. uncertainty may have been due to a law requiring additional U.S. sanctions on any country found to have 1,000 hectares of more of opium under cultivation, said Nicholas Eberstadt, an analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, a private policy research group.
The U.S. hasn't certified North Korea to be exceeding that level, although evidence points to a much larger figure, Eberstadt said. The accompanying sanctions would make negotiations with North Korea more difficult, he said.
Robert Gallucci, who negotiated the 1994 agreement during the Clinton administration, recommended that the U.S. take steps to intercept North Korean narcotics shipments. China, however, may be an obstacle, he said.
``We have to wonder to the extent to which they'll cooperate with us,'' Gallucci said.
The Council on Foreign Relations, in a report yesterday on North Korea, criticized President George W. Bush, saying he failed to negotiate more aggressively over North Korea's rejection of the 1994 agreement.
Interim Agreement Recommended
North Korea has insisted that the U.S. negotiate the matter one-on-one. Bush has insisted that the talks include such allies as South Korea and Japan, which also are directly affected by North Korea's weapons efforts.
The council, a policy research organization, said Bush should try to quickly conclude an interim agreement with the North Koreans that tests their intentions. The U.S. should then be prepared to work with its allies to impose tough measures in the case of failure, including new economic sanctions and a naval blockade of North Korea, it said.
U.S. and North Korean officials held a preliminary round of talks last month in Beijing without any agreement on further negotiations.
The White House said yesterday that it is considering holding more talks with North Korea over its nuclear program and will discuss the issue when Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visits the U.S. this week.
