From: Radio Free Asia
North Korean Tobacco Factories, Smuggled Cigarettes Bring in Cash For Pyongyang
Despite international trade sanctions imposed by the United Nations, North Korea continues to pull in badly needed foreign cash through the sale of tobacco products, much of it produced in joint ventures with China and sold as counterfeit cigarettes across Asia, sources say.
The impact of U.N. bans on North Korean exports—covering mostly seafood, coal, iron, and lead ore—is now largely cushioned by the trade, one North Korean source now traveling abroad told RFA’s Korean Service in a recent interview.
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Reported by Joonho Kim and Sunghui Moon for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Richard Finney.
