According to an article from CNN, North Korea is using the sale of illicit western luxury goods at cash-only department stores to finance their nuclear program.
Citing a recent investigation by NK Pro, an independent North Korean watchdog, CNN reports that the sanction-flouting retail outlets are contributing to the coffers of Office 39, a secretive program that the “US government describes as a slush fund for the regime,” and that’s believed to be paying for the bulk of Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program.
“It is unclear how much money the luxury stores actually make for Office 39,” says Kim Kwang Jin, a North Korea defector who helped finance illicit imports into North Korea, but he estimates that, combined with “tourism, the gold business, electronics and a whole range of other businesses the office manages” Office 39 is “now raking in hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.”
Many of the goods being sold at the stores — like Lanvin and Burberry perfumes and Montblanc watches — are in direct violation of current UN trade sanctions, and are apparently being brought in to the country through a variety of illicit channels. “The NK Pro report makes a connection to Singapore-based traders,” and some Malaysian, Russian, and Chinese companies are also suspected of trading in banned items as well.
So, to recap: the North Korean elite (actually a thing), and tourists alike, are directly contributing to a global threat by purchasing luxury goods, in cash, from a pair of Pyongyang department stores. The end really is coming at us from all directions.
You can read more about it at CNN.
