thanks for the link to the article (part II is out as of today)! hm i wonder if bureau 39 handles all contracted labor…

North Korea’s other money-making schemes are unlikely to be enough alone to keep the regime afloat. (If there is one good thing to come out of the world financial crisis, it is the decreased demand for weapons and drug trafficking.)

On another note: Regarding North Korea’s contracted labor, it has long been suspected that after the DPRK normalized ties with Burma/Myanmar, it wouldn’t be long until North Korea was out there digging tunnels. This article has published photos and research which the author says verifies previous speculation about North Korean involvement in Myanmar. Payments are supposedly made in the form of gold and other minerals. It’s an interesting read and I’m curious to see what the other parts of the article will reveal. (This was part 1.)

As you already know, NK contracts out cheap labor (e.g. 10-15,000 in Siberian timber camps; 5,300 in Mongolia) to foreign governments. Laborers reportedly face harsh working conditions, unfair compensation, etc.

I’m wondering if there’s been a push to target the bank accounts where foreign governments deposit the “wages” that the NK regime subsequently distributes to its workers.

Also, I may be entirely wrong, but wouldn’t the unintended consequence of sanctions be that it would force the NK regime to go completely underground, thus taking activities off the radar and harder to track?

I mean, did the Macau case really create that much of a dent to the regime or did the regime raise that big stink because it was their money.

Somebody should tell the UNSC that paper makes a lousy defense against nukes and missiles.