North Korea produces 44 tons of opium a year
In 2005, available estimates of the North Korean drug trade placed opium production at 44 tons a year.
Source: Matthew Quirk, “The world in numbers: The New Opium War,” The Atlantic Monthly, March 2005, pg. 52-53.
$2,000 to $10,000 to be smuggled into China from North Korea
Source: Sarah Buckley, “Escaping North Korea,” BBC News, July 28, 2004,(accessed: May 23, 2006).
Total of 50,000 to 100,000 North Koreans living in China
Source: Andrei Lankov, “The Natural death of North Korean Stalinism,” Asia Policy, No.1, January 2006, pg. 95-121, (accessed: May 23, 2006).
As many as 500,000 North Koreans may have been to China and back over the last 10 years
Published reports have stated that the as many as 500,000 North Koreans may have been to China and returned back to North Korea over the past ten years.
Source: Andrei Lankov, ” How to Topple Kim Jong Il,” Foreign Policy, March/April 2007, pg. 71.
8,000 to 10,000 North Koreans cross into China every year
Source: Sarah Buckley, “Escaping North Korea,” BBC News, July 28, 2004,(accessed: May 23, 2006).
50 million Supernotes originated from North Korea
United States Authorities have seized around 50 Million Counterfeit Dollars known as Supernotes that originated from North Korea.
Source: AP, “U.S. fights N. Korea efforts to forge currency,” MSNBC.com, August 7, 2006,(accessed: September 3, 2006).
North Korea earns $20 million from selling counterfeit US dollars
Source: Korea Times, “NK Earns $20 Million a Year From Counterfeiting: Expert” , May 15, 2005.
North Korea earns between $500 to $700 million a year from counterfeit cigarettes
Source: “Fake Cigarettes ‘N. Korea’s Biggest Money-Spinner’,” Chosum Ilbo, August 17, 2006, (accessed: August 18, 2006).
41 billion counterfeit cigarettes produced each year in North Korea
The counterfeit cigarettes are sold in China, Japan, and the United States.
Source: Richard Lloyd Parry, “An economy built on drug dealers, ivory poachers and counterfeiters”, The Times (United Kingdom), October 11,2006.
