From: News24.com
Julian Rademeyer, News24 Correspondent
Pretoria – A high-ranking North Korean diplomat accused of abusing his diplomatic immunity and his embassy’s diplomatic bag to smuggle rhino horn out of South Africa has been expelled from the country.
News24 has learnt that Park Chol-jun – also identified in some news reports as Pak Chol Chun – quietly left the country on December 11.
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There are mounting allegations that North Korea uses its embassies to operate a “criminal empire”. Earlier this year, a North Korean diplomat was caught smuggling 25kg of gold – worth an estimated $1m – from Singapore to Bangladesh. Other North Korean diplomats and embassies have been linked to drug, weapons and cigarette smuggling, money laundering and the distribution of fake US dollars.
