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Drug Lord Country?
This entry was written by R. Elgin, posted on June 10, 2008 at 10:53 am, filed under Asides, East and Central Asia, North Korea. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post.
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33 Comments
I hate when people say “methamphetamines” you don’t say “benzenes” or “hydrochloric acids.”
I agree. I’ll fix that.
Thanks R. Elgin, you da man.
Thanks for the update. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to get high-grade methamphetamine on my upcoming family trip to the Philippines.
will that stuff show up on the new E-2 visa medical test?
(p.s.: to the immigration officials who visit this page: I was joking. Kindly disregard the gravatar, too.)
Has anybody ever heard of low-grade meth? There is no such thing, its all good.
This kind of story always reminds me of CIA black psyops, they do it everyyear for the new recruits to practice on. Heavy on assumption, lacking in evidence. Oh look, theres a WMD. Lets blow up that country. Oh, where did it go?
Oh, your country has drugs, because a boat came from there. Orientalist assumptions mean that drug activity must be state sanctioned, not rogue elements or criminal parties.
They need to start making Ecstacy in kaesong and putting it on the train.
its a well known fact that north korea is a leader in the int drug trade. one of the few ways they can get hard currency also some stories about china and the junta in burma heling
To call North Korea a “leader” in the international drug trade is absurd. Compared to what is produced and traded by the Andean Ridge countries, Golden Crescent, or what was produced in the Golden Triangle, North Korea was small change. That does not mean that North Korea does not produce meth, nor market the drug. They do both. They also trade in heroin. And there is sufficient evidence that these activities have in the past been sanctioned by the state. Some of the drugs they trade are produced in countries other than North Korea. Were we to take North Korea out of the drug trade, however, the effect upon East Asian drug trafficking would be minimal.
So, you are saying North Korea has a fairly liberal stance toward recreational drugs. Even then, given the difficulty to get a visa I would think that South east asia would be a much better place to visit because (im presuming) the larger market would make for cheaper prices and better quality.
What the?! Why are you talking about recreational drug use in North Korea?
And yes, there is such thing as low grade meth.
Ever hear of cutting?! Caffine is only one of the things used to cut it with, MSM is another. Cutting produces low grade meth.
The whole liberal stand about rec drug use in North Korea, doesn’t deserve a reply.
Ever hear of cutting?! Caffine is only one of the things used to cut it with, MSM is another. Cutting produces low grade meth.
Is MSM like MSG, but with less glutamate? Do you know where I can get it? I know you can get MSG from boiling chinese takeaway food in a glass pot with sulphuric acid for a long time. But im not familiar with MSM. Is the quality really worse, or would the buyer not know?
Filipinos probably snicker every time their Korean friends invite them for ’shabu shabu’.
swlee,
Where did you get that idea?
There IS “low-grade and high-grade” Methamphetamine out there. Generally speaking powder-type is the most concentrated(usually 90% or more)
Japanese police has been on this issue for long long time. Many MANY Koreans have been arrested for smuggling drugs from North Korea to Japan.
Even they have identified 3 possible drug factories in North Korea.
swlee, are you saying all of this is bullshit?
Even the North Korean family who has defected to Japan last year had drug with them.
follow up on the #14
Amphetamines on defector similar to drugs seized in past
N. Korea Has 3 Stimulant Drug Factories
And this list of entries are very comprehensive.
“Two of the three factories are located in areas where pharmaceutical factories were situated when the Korean Peninsula was under Japanese colonial control, Yomiuri reported quoting sources.”
That’s kinda funny, because Japan invented Meth. How ironic. I wonder what types of “pharmaceuticals” those factories were making back then? Probably meth.
swlee,
Has anybody ever heard of low-grade meth? There is no such thing, its all good.
Where did you get that idea?
Um, it was a joke.
I do not deny there are North Koreans involved in drug marketing, just that I wish to draw attention to the people that attack North Korea for nuclear weapons, drugs, famine, and detract from North KOrea’s positive side, like cultural preservation, Dog and snake soju, and Juche.
Maybe its time to give the country a break.
chiamattt,
haha, so true. lol
Cut the crap and WAKE UP.
People are dying. They are eating human meat and prostitute themselves for living.
And stop saying “Um, it was a joke.”
Ok, lets remove trade sanctions and recognize North Korea’s sovereignty. Lets pay reparations for the colonial period while were at it. (Maybe you are a Japanese grandson of former pharmaceutical scientist?) Grant it the right to develop nuclear weapons for defensive purposes.
Or maybe you have a better idea. I would like to see this problem resolved but nobody is trying outside the box.
Sorry if it sounds like I am ridiculing you for parroting anti-North Korean propaganda, maybe I am. I’m just not used to the caring, cuddly right wing. The country is weak enough, do you propose we bash it more, or reach out and help? Increase sanctions on a country so desperate it turns to drug smuggling to survive? Its complex problem.
“Cut the crap, people dying, blah blah.” People dying everywhere, who is crying about the death of civilians in Iraq because of US mistakes? Thats a strong country, it should have known better. Should we raise sanctions against the US?
Out of the box thinking? Remove trade sanctions? Recognize sovereignty? Doesn’t sound very creative or original, and rather flies in the face of the nature of the regime, which has a predilection for a Kim Juche solution for anything and everything. The record shows little evidence to indicate the regime has any meaningful capability when it comes to economy, agriculture, equal opportunity and treatment of citizens, etc. Study harder and try again #20.
I’m sick of those lies.
“reparations for the colonial period ” has been done in 1965. Although ROK did not tell that fact to the people until recently. And they used most of the money for economic development.
According to the South Korean constitution, ROK represent the whole Korean peninsula. Therefore it is now South Korean responsibility, isn’t it?
All Koreans I’ve met and talked with turned blind eye on North Korean situation and change the topic just like swlee did. Typical.
I think we have another of Uncle Joe’s useful idiots in our midst.
Awesome. NK has a liberal attitude on drugs. I love it.
Reparations for the colonial period would entail some kind of acknowledgement, saying sorry for or even counter reparations on behalf of the DPRK for years of sponsoring terrorism, kidnapping, infiltration and a host of other naughty acts, wouldn’t they, SWLee? Let’s not even start on what they might owe for starting the Korean war. As for allowing them to develop nukes for peaceful purposes, you might like the idea of countries such as Syria benefitting from proliferation, but I for one don’t.
As for your earlier nonsense about this being some kind of black ops, I wish I could introduce you to a couple of friends who worked on the Pong Su case in Australia back in 2006. Nevertheless, I’ll give you a link that might refresh your memory in respect to North Koreans trying to smuggle heroin into Australia.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asi.....837484.stm
And if you actually are there (as your locator flag insists), enjoy the fruits of that particular NK trade endeavor next time your DVD or car is stolen by a bunch of junkies.
Ah, they never do shit on their own backyard, to they?
So North Korea defends traditional Korean culture? I suppose if traditional Korean culture is the worship of Chinese-looking midgets, poor resource management, dishonesty, backwardness, sheeplike behavior, and putting millions of people in concentration camps, than Kim is your man. Funny how many rabidly anti-Western Koreans flock to live in Australia, New Zealand, and North America, when it’s only a short trip across the border for them to enjoy full self-actualization as Koreans.
reading the last 20 posts it is like you are all on meth
Yes, it appears as if Mr. Lee has some serious reading up to do on North Korea, particularly in the “traditional culture” department. Lots out there written by Lankov, but also Korean scholars. Wish I could remember the paper I read tracing North Korea’s Arirang games to the Manchukuo experience, and drawing interesting parallels which underscored the more Japanese imperial nature of the Nork government. (i.e., under the Choseon Dynasty, the king was not an immortal, whereas the Juche philosophy virtually paints the Kim clan as descended from Gods.)
Reminds me of all the good things I used to hear about Cuba in the 1970s.l
Could SWLEE be a reincarnation of Jack Reed?
There never is a dearth of useful idiots is there?
I wish I could find that paper I read about how the decriminalization of marijuana smoking for recreational purposes in North Korea had lowered uptake rates for harder drugs. It showed that party cadre were less likely to snort lines of cocaine and the price of ecstasy tablets had plummeted as demand dropped off.
The journal paper also drew attention to a corresponding rise in importation of 20 inch rims and larger as higher party officials began spending more of their disposable incomes on investing in their private vehicles, buying chrome wheels, high-profile rubber, dvd screens for the back of the front seats, etc. Even a growth in the market for sub woofer, amplifiers and other car audio system paraphernalia was attributed to the decriminalization of marijuana and the down turn in trade of harsher drugs.
However, the paper did suggest that the rise in the market for “bling” products may have been fueled by increased exports of traditional Korean dog and snake soju, as well as a boom in the eastern european market for Juche texts (Up 235% two 16,000 pages in 2005).
I love the adrenaline rush speed and danger draw, Like blowin’ into my milkshake ’stead of suckin’ up the straw. One day I’m gonna go right over the top. And keep on blowin’ after my mum tells me to stop.Choose bad smack, put Omo in your coke, Cold power in your hoota, Drive in your dope; Choose bad smack, don’t choose life: Leaves you high, and your clothes whiter than white. The ball’s in the net, the run’s on the board; Be like your sporting heroes, make sure you’ve scored.
Dude, could you call us right before the overdose so we can all come and watch?