NK drugs rampant in northeastern China

By Kim Se-jeong

The volume of North Korean drugs in northeastern China has grown tremendously, posing a threat there, according to a research paper reported by Radio Free Asia.

Zhang Yong-an, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute, a think-tank based in Washington, D.C., wrote in the paper published Dec. 3 that “made-in-North Korea” drugs in China were becoming out of control.

Zhang wrote, “In July 2010, the Yanbian border patrol agency arrested six suspects from North Korea, including a drug kingpin ‘Sister Kim,’ and several ethnic Korean Chinese. They seized 1.5 kg of ice.”

“Ice” is a nickname for crystal methamphetamine.

Quoting another scholar, he said most of the ice consumed in Yanbian over the last three to five years came from the North.

Methamphetamine production in North Korea is believed to have begun in 1996 by state-run enterprises after heavy rains ruined poppy production in the country. Most methamphetamine is trafficked into China, and border cities such as Dandong, and the Changbai Korean Autonomous District in China’s Jilin Province are important transit points.

Radio Free Asia, which is based in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday that drug use inside North Korea was also on the rise.

Authorities declared a “war against drugs" in November, dispatching 60 special agents to Hamheung, South Hamgyeong Province, North Korea, apparently on the orders of Kim Jong-un, the heir apparent of the Stalinist regime.

The agents caught drug producers and traffickers. Quoting a city official, the RFA reported Kim showed concern that the increase of drug-related crimes inside North Korea could pose a threat to the country’s survival.