The 8 Crazy Ways North Korea Makes Money Despite Sanctions
In case you’re not paying attention North Korea has been in the news a lot lately. As usual, it’s for all the wrong reasons.
Whether or not Kim is crazy enough
to actually launch a missile is debatable. What isn’t up for debate is
that North Korea continues finding ways to fund its nuclear ambitions. Sanctions aren’t keeping North Korea from making enough money to build nuclear weapons. This is how the country does it.
1. Coal
North Korea is all about the black market. | EvgenyMiroshnichenko/iStock/Getty Images
Yes, China pumped the brakes on importing North Korean coal early in 2017, and Reuters reports
coal, lead, and iron imports to China from North Korea dropped
drastically. Yet many experts believe the country is still making money
by selling coal to its neighbor to the north. How? By engaging in off-the-books trade that is harder to trace.
Next: Talk about making money.
2. Counterfeiting
North Korea has been counterfeiting Chinese currency as well. | halduns/iStock/Getty Images
If you can’t legally make money, why
not just fake it? That’s North Korea’s thinking. In 2009, a man was
sentenced to more than 12 years in prison for successfully passing millions of dollars of counterfeit bills in
Las Vegas casinos. It wasn’t an isolated case. That same year, a
Taiwanese woman shipped close to $400,000 in counterfeit U.S. currency
to herself. She was caught by the FBI,
but only after smuggling and spending thousands of dollars of
counterfeit money. It’s not just U.S. currency that’s being faked, as
United Press International writes that Chinese currency is being printed in North Korea.
Next: A world wide web of deceit.
3. Cybercrime
They’re stealing money through hacking. | iStock/Getty Images
It is believed North Korea launched a 2014 hack on Sony Pictures. British intelligence believes North Korea launched a malware attack that hit a number of hospitals and health centers, and CNBC reports the
country was behind a cyberheist that saw $81 million disappear from
Bangladesh’s central bank. Even when not stealing money or crashing
computer systems, North Korea is lurking on networks and learning
weaknesses in preparation for another attack, according to The Diplomat.
Next: It gets by with a little help from its…
4. Friends
It is believed that Iran shares nuclear information. | silverjohn/iStock/Getty Images
The off-the-books coal and mineral
trade with China is just one way North Korea makes money. Sympathetic
nationals and other pariah states are helping it get the cash and
resources it needs. David Thompson, writing for the non-profit C4ADS,
spotlights the case of Chinese citizen Fan Mintian, caught attempting
to smuggle weapons from Cuba to North Korea, and that is just one case
of foreign citizens helping. It is believed Iran, another enemy of the
United States, and North Korea share nuclear information and resources.
Next: The country is a major player in this illegal activity.
5. Heroin
They’re the third largest heroin producer. | John Moore/Getty Images
That North Korea has been refining and distributing heroin around the world is an open secret. The Australian navy seized a North Korean
ship transporting more than 100 kilograms of the drug in 2003. In fact,
U.S. officials say the country is the world’s third-leading heroin
producer behind Afghanistan and Burma, and the CIA calls out North Korean diplomats for engaging in heroin trafficking on a regular basis.
Next: Another addictive agent helps line the pockets.
6. Methamphetamine
North Korea makes its money off of addicts. | Hannelore Foerster/Getty Images
As we’ve just seen, North Korea uses
the heroin trade to make some off-the-books money. It seems one drug
isn’t enough, as the country sends methamphetamine around the globe. The
U.S. Department of Justice convicted
three international conspirators of attempting to import 100 kilograms
of North Korea-produced meth in 2015. That was three years after the
same trio sold 30 kilos of the substance. The narcotics North Korea
produces are in addition to fake pharmaceuticals, like Viagra, it makes.
Next: Putting the work in Workers’ Party of Korea.
7. Slave labor
They have been profiting off of enslaved labor and sex slavery. | rodjulian/iStock/Getty Images
The Workers’ Party of Korea is the
political party running North Korea, and slave labor within the country
has long been utilized. Apparently, it is also an export. Citizens up to
the task work jobs overseas, with handlers watching their every move.
Wages are mostly or entirely skimmed and the workers receive nothing, or
close to it. A CNN report claims this scam brings in more than $1 billion annually.
Next: An ICBM for an ICBM.
8. Weapons
North Korea attempted to smuggle chemical weapons to Syria. | Nigel Treblin/Getty Images
Because of sanctions, North Korea
should not be importing or exporting weapons, but that hurdle has been
easy to overcome. Through years of unchecked trading, it stockpiled cash
and other resources, which it uses to manufacture its own weapons. When
there’s a surplus, it sells those weapons out to the highest bidder. In
one incident,
North Korea was caught trying to smuggle chemical weapons to Syria. If
you’re not keeping track of world affairs, that’s one shady and
generally-despised government trying to help out another one.
Culled fromWallstreetcheatsheet
