Vanity Fair put out a fantastic article (“North Korea’s Dollar Store“) yesterday on North Korea’s mafia enterprise, their “supernotes” US dollar counterfeiting operation, and the massive operation to stop it all that was suddenly shuttered by the Bush Administration. This is a must read for those interested in Asian foreign affairs, or just those who love a good mafia story.
I admit to be more fluent in North Korean affairs than the average American, but there is a lot of new information in here that I found very interesting. The first of which is something called Office 39.
Office 39 is basically a bureau within the North Korean government that acts as the mafia-esque arm of the country. Kim Jong Il has ultimate control over it and they run everything from currency and cigarette counterfeiting to weapons to drug creation and trafficing.
“In one sense, Office 39 is like an investment bank,” says Asher. “It provides the money for the stuff Kim needs. Like any organized-crime syndicate, you’ve got a don, and you’ve got accountants, and it’s a very complicated business, keeping track of all this money and making sure the boss gets paid. But when members of the organization don’t deliver, they get killed.”
Next, the article gets into the counterfeit dollars that North Korea is creating and running through Las Vegas casinos. These $100 bills are so perfect that a secret service agent who was told they were counterfeit, initially sent them back claiming they were legimate.
“Lorelei Pagano, a Secret Service counterfeit specialist, told a private banknote-industry conference in 2003 that the makers of the supernotes had likely included their few tiny flaws on purpose, so that they and their customers could tell the difference between the counterfeits and the real thing. Otherwise, there would be nothing to stop criminals from ripping off their suppliers by purchasing supernotes—which typically cost around a third of their nominal value—with other supernotes.”
Lastly, the article touches upon the Bush Adminstration’s push to catch and tackle these operations, and the subsequent order to halt that push. This is the only part of the article that I dislike. I feel like there is probably more going on behind the scenes on this part of the story that are not revealed. But, more importantly, it would be great to know if these actions are put back into place by the Obama adminstration. He is surely under a lot of pressure to handle that country correctly.
*image source: VanityFair.com
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