In its latest push to prove itself as a true international power of the 21st century, North Korea may be forcing its foreign diplomats to sell illegal drugs on the street to bring some much needed hard cash into the isolated country.
While the news may sound too wild to be believe, there's actually some solid reporting to back up the outlandish claim. The reliable South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo says it spoke to a source who obtained the information from a recently defected North Korean diplomatic agent.
The former North Korean official said that Pyongyang "sent a large amount of illegal drugs to its embassy in an East European country last December and ordered diplomats there to sell it for cash by early April," according to Chosun Ilbo.
The diplomats were reportedly told to forget their diplomatic responsibilities, and were all sent about 44 pounds of an unidentified drug - though, there's reason to suspect it was crystal methamphetamine - and were directed to sell $300,000 worth by April 15 to prove their loyalty and celebrate the birthday of Kim Il-Sung, founder of North Korea; because, what dead communist dictator doesn't love ringing in their birthday to the tune of drug money?
Chosun Ilbo estimates that one North Korean foreign embassy would typically force 10 diplomats to sell drugs, making the potential payout about $3 million for every package sent abroad.
If the paper's information is accurate, it would be indicative of North Korea's clandestine industry of smuggling state-made drugs, such as "high quality" meth, to China and other countries to pay for leader Kim Jong Un, and other elite government officials' luxurious lifestyles.
While the majority of North Korea struggles in abject squalor - remember those reports of locals resorting to cannibalism? - Kim and his top officials live in a "parallel mini-economy" in Pyongyang, still enjoying the spoils of wealth. According to the defected North Korean agent, an enigmatic government entity called "Room 39" is responsible for keeping Kim and his pals comfortable with top-shelf brandy and sports cars by managing the country's sources of illegal income, such as grifting foreign businesses, and mass exports of meth with an estimated worth of between $100 and $200 million annually.
North Korea has been wrestling with the challenge of bringing actual hard currency into the country in recent decades as its continued hostile war rhetoric, and refusal to give up its nuclear ambitions has brought crippling economic sanctions against Pyongyang.
The U.N. voted unanimously once again earlier this month to approve tougher sanctions against North Korea as punishment for the country's third nuclear missile test launch in February, stoking the ire of Pyongyang, who described America as a "criminal threatening global peace" just hours before the U.N.'s vote.
The most recently approved U.N sanctions will "broaden and tighten" the many current financial, economic and trade sanctions that have been in effect against Pyongyang since 2006, and will outright ban the sale of luxuries such as yachts and sports cars in the country, highly cherished toys of North Korea's "ruling elite", according to NBC News. Some of the measures will also seek to stymie North Korea's ability to move its money around the world, and finance and gather material for its weapons programs.
Pyongyang announced March 8 that it would attack the U.S. with a preemptive nuclear missile strike that would consume Washington, D.C. in a "sea of fire" in retaliation for allegedly stoking hostility with the U.N. sanctions. North Korea rejected the recently approved fifth round of harsher United Nations Security Council sanctions against the country, claiming they were a fundamentally flawed path toward improving relations in the region.