N. Korea: Imported Strategic Materials Paid with Dollars or Heroin (All-powerful Unit 772)

Segye Ilbo ^ | 07/04/05 | Won Jae-yon

[TigerLikesRooster]

/begin my translation

Imported Strategic Reserve Materials Paid with Dollars or Heroin

Unit 772 is in charge...enormously powerful
dealings with Chinese Mafia under the cover of legitimate business

When N. Korea imports strategic reserve materials, they make payments with dollars as well as heroin.

According to July issue of monthly magazine 'N. Korea,' N. Korea pays Chinese Mafia(organized crime syndicate) with heroin to import strategic materials such as grains, fuel oil, and medicine. They also pay with heroin when they do business with foreign ships on international waters.

When making deals with Chinese Mafia, N. Koreans invited them under the cover of a cultural or sports group. After arranging their legitimate entry into N. Korea, N. Koreans supplied drugs to Chinese.

N. Korea: Imported Strategic Reserve Materials

Item	Quota	Imported from	Payment	Final Destination
food	no	China, Russia	party fund or barter	designated by National Defense Commission(secret)
medicine		Japan, China	party fund or barter	No. 53 Warehouse
fuel oil	no	China, Russia	party fund or barter	designated by National Defense Commission(secret)
textile/sundries	no	China, Russia	party fund or barter	designated by National Defense Commission(secret)
electronic components	yes	Japan, China	party fund or barter	designated by National Defense Commission(secret)
freight truck	yes	China, Russia	party fund or barter	designated by National Defense Commission(secret)

Whenever Unit 772 makes to its superior organization its request for more heroin to pay for rice and other food items, the unit always gets it.

When making deals with N. Koreans, Chinese Mafia requests the type of drug they need. Ranam Pharmaceutical Factory in N. Korea produce drugs with 4 different labels, including morphine and heroin, each with different price.

Unit 772 is directly under National Defense Commission, whose Chairman is Kim Jong-il. It was created in 2003. Organizations under Unit 772 are given their unique ID number. Each is called 'Management Office No. XX' using its ID number XX. There is such a office for Pyongyang or each province. There are 14 of them in total, and each is headed by its chief(a general.)

In provinces, the unit has almost unlimited power. Local Worker's Party, State Security Dept., and Public Security Station(police) cannot touch the unit. When personnels from Management Office No. 12 under Unit 772 cross the border for their trade-business, nobody stops them. They only need to give notice to the Border Security.

Unit 772 imports various kinds of materials. In addition to food, fuel oil, and medicine, they bring in textiles, general merchandises, electronic components, and freight trucks. They import food and medicine from China and Russia, while electronic and communication equipments from Japan. 

Won Jae-yon

2005.07.04(Mon.) 20:18 

The following table is from The Daily NK.

Organization Structure: No. 12 Management Office of Unit 772

Organization name	Head	Task	Area of operation
management office	chief (two star general or higher)	purchase of strategic reserve materials	N. Hamkyong Province, Japan, China, Russia
management office	party secretarty(colonel)	party project, personnel management	N. Hamkyong Province
product procurement	section chief(lieutenant colonel)	managing export material production	the whole country, N. Hamkyong Province
fishing base	base chief(major)	high quality seafood	seashore of N. Hamkyong Province
fishing boat(200 hp)	a few dozen ships	has a large refrigerator	seashore of N. Hamkyong Province
Rajin Trade Base	senior leader(lieutenant colonel) and 3 others	trade(China, Russia, Japan, S. Korea, Mongolia, etc)	Rajin
XX Trade Base	base chief(major) and one other	trade with Ethnic Korean Autonomous District in China	XX
Shinjin Trade Base	-	trade with Japanese on international waters	Chong-jin
Musan Trade Base		scheduled to be opened

/end my translation

[TigerLikesRooster]

Ping!

[Lazamataz]

I tried to pay a traffic ticket off with Oxycontin.

3 years later, I was paroled.

[Walkingfeather]

for a few decades there have been 3 currancies US dollars, Drugs and Weapons. All interchangable at the high levels.

[cardinal4]

All kidding aside, I heard the DPRKs were pirating drugs like Oxycontin and synthesizing morphine and the like, and selling them for currency. I read too, that in addition to those drugs they were refining cocaine at one time while counterfeiting US currency. Follow the money, its amazing that the DPRK-Drug Dealing-Counterfeiting-terrorism angle hasnt been explored more in depth..

[TigerLikesRooster]

Re #5

They are also big on METH. They maintain extensive business contacts with Japanese crime syndicates. Kim Jong-il's first son, Kim Jong-nam, was in charge of drug operations in Japan. Maybe he still is.

[nw_arizona_granny]

This is an article to not miss.

Ping