The Chinese government has launched a crackdown on drugs smuggled from North Korea, a local daily has reported.
“North Korea earned about $1 billion in exports of weapons every year, but the amount decreased to $10 million last year due to sanctions. The North is presumed to sell drugs in China to offset the export gap from the sanctions,” the Dong-a Ilbo reported, quoting government officials.
“The drugs the Chinese authorities seized were beyond the level of privately produced one, meaning that it was of high quality. In other words, Pyongyang is believed to manufacture narcotics at factories on the state level,” the paper said. “China added North Korea’s illegal exports are becoming more serious since last year when $60 million worth of drugs were smuggled from the North,” the newspaper said.
Concerning relations with the North Korea, China was reluctant to officially reveal the North Korea’s narcotics trade issue. However, the government said that it can no longer tolerate the level, a threat to China`s three northeastern provinces bordering the North, believed to be the hotbed of the illegal drug trade.
The newspaper also reported that South Koreans have deeply been involved in the illegal drug trade connection. Among South Korean drug criminals arrested in China, most of them were allegedly handling North Korea’s drugs.
“North Korean narcotics were smuggled through the so-called ‘3-3-3’ connection system. A total of nine or 10 people become a group with three North Koreans bringing drugs to the border area to relay them to three ethnic Koreans living in China for circulation in three Chinese northeastern provinces.
And then the last 3 South Koreans smuggle the drugs into South Korea or Japan. As a result, South Koreans have got involved in North Korea’s drug trafficking,” the newspaper said.