North Korea: Illicit Activity Funding the Regime

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North Korea is under the iron grip of Kim Jong-il and his ruling elite. From the little we know about this secretive dictatorship, it’s clear that there is little the regime won’t do in order to increase its stranglehold of power and its threat to the world. A significant source of income that is keeping this malevolent empire solvent derives from a vast criminal network involved in counterfeiting currency and commercial goods, illegal drug production and trafficking, and slave labor. The purpose of this hearing is to expose these illicit activities to public scrutiny and connect the dots between this “moonshine” economy and the regime’s ability to continue weapon proliferation while avoiding the full consequences of sanctions and isolationism.