You might want to think twice about smuggling drugs into Japan from North Korea because you might just get sentenced to life in prison:
The Tokyo District Court sentenced two men to life in prison Wednesday for smuggling about 230 kilograms of amphetamines into Japan from North Korea in violation of the stimulants control law.
Gang leader Katsuhiko Miyata, 60, and South Korean resident of Japan U Si Yun, 61, played key roles in the smuggling operations, according to the indictment.
They involved a smuggling ring loading the drugs at a North Korean port, dropping the cargo in the Sea of Japan, and later collecting it in a fishing boat and bringing it into Japan in June and October 2002, the indictment said. [AP via Michelle Malkin]
The important thing to note about this is that these drug smugglers were smuggling the meth out of North Korea with the full knowledge of the North Korean government. Drug smuggling has long been way for the North Korean regime to bring in revenue and in recent years Japan has been working hard to crack down on these illegal activities.
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10:18 am on May 17th, 2008 1
[...] [via ROK Drop] [...]
10:20 pm on May 17th, 2008 2
If I recall correctly, a couple of years ago it came out that a particular North Korean ship had been caught dozens of times smuggling meth into Busan, but there were never any arrests nor was the ship ever banned from putting into port.
6:25 am on May 18th, 2008 3
Yes Korea Beat you would be referring to this story:
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v03/n833/a08.html
North Koreans have in fact been busted all over the world for drug smuggling. They use their foreign embassies to peddle the stuff to raise funds for the regime.
5:18 pm on May 18th, 2008 4
I’m curious, is there any good data out there on which demographics in Korea are the prime users of meth or other drugs?
5:50 pm on May 18th, 2008 5
You are in luck I have broken down the demographics of drug crime in Korea in this prior posting.
8:57 am on May 19th, 2008 6
[...] ROK Drop - North Korean Drug Smugglers Sentenced in Japan [...]
9:20 am on May 19th, 2008 7