END NORTH KOREA'S DRUG TRADE

The recent seizure of the ship Pong Su off Australian waters and its cargo
of more than $144 million of heroin has put North Korea's drug trafficking
in the international spotlight.

The attention is long overdue.

North Korea has for many years been deeply involved in the drug trade, and
unlike other North Korean misdeeds, there is little debate over or sympathy
for its actions. There must be a strong response by the international
community and concerted efforts to halt North Korean drug trafficking. The
upcoming ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Cambodia provides a ready
platform to begin this anti-drug effort.

North Korea's illegal drug production is not new, nor is it an ad hoc
operation. South Korean intelligence believes North Korean farmers, under
direct instructions from the leadership in Pyongyang, developed numerous
poppy farms since the late 1970s. They estimate that cultivation areas
expanded from 1.3 million pyong (1 pyong is approximately 36 square feet)
in 1992 to 12.8 million pyong in 1993, and 21.8 million pyong (or
approximately 65 million square feet) in 1994. Government factories
reportedly process the cultivated opium into heroin, and then companies and
diplomatic economic departments distribute it. Those sources believe that
Aesung Chongguk (under office No. 39 of the North Korean Worker's Party) is
in charge of selling opium overseas while Daesung Chongguk coordinates
opium trafficking through its trading corporation Daesung Sangsa, which has
20 overseas branches.

North Korea is thought to produce more than 40 tons of opium a year;
estimates of revenue earned range from a low of $48 million to as much as
$1 billion annually (if all illegal drugs, such as heroin, cocaine and
methamphetamines are included). A recent study by U.S. Forces Korea and
South Korea's 21st Century Military Research Institute concludes that North
Korea exports $500 million of narcotics annually, making it the world's
third largest opium exporter and the sixth largest heroin exporter.

North Korea's location facilitates drug smuggling and makes it a real
concern for its neighbors.

William Bach, director of the Office of African, Asian, and European
Affairs within the State Department's Bureau for International Narcotics
and Law Enforcement Affairs, testified that since 1976, there have been at
least 50 arrests and/or drug seizures involving North Koreans in more than
20 countries.

Japanese officials claim that nearly 50 percent of illegal drug imports
into Japan originate from North Korea. Last year, Japanese authorities
caught a shipment of 150 kg of methamphetamines. It is believed that the
North Korean spy boat chased and sunk last year was running drugs.

Other witness accounts link North Korean drug smuggling with the Russian
Mafia, the Japanese Yakuza, and other international criminal organizations
in Europe and Southeast Asia. While defectors' stories deserve some
skepticism, the arrests and the consistency of the tales suggest there is
truth to the claims that North Korea has systematically developed its drug
production and trafficking capabilities.

That trade is now a focus of international concern as the U.S. attempts to
build consensus on measures to tighten the economic noose around the North.
Drug trafficking is an easy target: there are no doubts about the existence
of the program, nor are there debates about its moral content or purposes.
The networks that smuggle the drugs can also be used for other contraband
(such as plutonium). Finally, cutting the flow of drugs means cutting the
flow of drug money - a vital source of income - which could help push the
North to the negotiating table.

Combating the drug trade will require a multifaceted, international
strategy that demands close cooperation from all nations of Northeast Asia.
That strategy should include:

_ Encouraging active U.N. International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)
participation. The INCB monitors and evaluates whether international
treaties are being enforced by member nations.

The INCB should conduct further research on North Korea's situation and
report the results to both the United Nations Security Council and other
international control regimes.

_ Coordinating South Korean, Japanese, Chinese, and American efforts on
port security and sea-based interdiction. The nature of the drug trade
requires active communication and coordination by various police and
maritime forces.

This activity could provide a foundation for efforts to deal with other
security issues ranging from terrorism to refugees that do not require a
military response

_ Strengthening cooperation among organized crime units in national police
forces. The North Korean drug trade relies heavily on partners, usually
organized crime groups.

Increased intelligence sharing and coordination of law enforcement efforts
will be critical to the success of any program to fight drug trafficking.
Collaboration should be encouraged through funding, public forums, and
training.

In early June, Japan, Australia, and the U.S. held trilateral consultations
in Tokyo regarding North Korea's drug trafficking, and continued this
discussion in Madrid the following week, which added EU nations such as
Britain, France, Germany, and Italy. On June 14, the U.S., Japan, and South
Korea issued a joint communique after their Trilateral Coordination and
Oversight Group (TCOG) meeting in Honolulu, that expressed "concern about
illegal activities by North Korean entities, including drug-running and
counterfeiting, and discussed means of cooperating among themselves with
other countries and international organizations to stop such activities.

Meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia provide the backdrop for such follow-on
discussions. South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese officials will meet
separately along the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum meeting to
discuss North Korea's illegal activities. A strong statement from all the
assembled ministers (North Korea's foreign minister has chosen not to
attend) condemning North Korea's drug trafficking and calling for concerted
action to halt the flow of illegal drugs will send a clear signal to North
Korea that the international community will not tolerate bad behavior.

The world has too long turned a blind eye to North Korea's illegal
activities. It is time North Korea ended its addiction to the illegal drug
trade.