Caught in the Act!

I wonder what Roh Moo-Hyun will say this time. Rogue diplomats?

North Korean diplomats were caught attempting to smuggle US$1 million and 200 million yen into Mongolia on Tuesday, the Mongolian press reported. Reports said the North Koreans told Mongolian authorities they were planning to put the money in a Mongolian bank account, according to Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun.

The paper said that it was unclear whether the money was counterfeit or not, and what measures the Mongolian authorities will take. It said the incident revived concerns about North Korean involvement in money laundering.

North Korean diplomatic missions are widely believed to have been told to finance themselves by any means available.  That said, I’d be astonished if all of that cash turns out to be authentic.  The U.S. Embassy continues to assert that it showed the South Koreans fresh evidence of North Korea’s counterfeiting, despite South Korea’s claims that North Korea was not known to have engaged in counterfeiting since 2000:

It quoted an embassy spokesman as saying the U.S. government showed Korean officials “superior-quality counterfeit 2001 and 2003 series US$100 notes (supernotes) that our investigations have concluded were manufactured” in North Korea. The spokesman said U.S. investigators concluded that $140,000 uncovered by South Korean police last year were part of a batch made by Pyongyang in 2001.

The evidence was presented to South Korean officials by U.S. Treasury investigators who visited in January. An Embassy insider said there was nothing to add to the spokesman’s statement.

Opinions may vary, but facts are hard things to alter.