North Korea faces the big task of adapting and developing the state economy, said Kim. “The only way to dynamically advance this unprecedented crucial work in spite of the dire situation is for the party to unite.”
State drug laboratories
Meanwhile, the BBC published an exclusive interview with a former senior secret service official. The colonel, who defected to South Korea in 2014, explains how North Korea’s leadership is doing all it can to make money. At the end of the 1990s he was entrusted with the task of raising “revolutionary funds”, he said. That means drug money with which the dictator bought villas, cars and other luxury goods: “I brought three foreigners to North Korea, set up a production base and manufactured drugs,” says the man. These were metamphetamines, also known as crystal meth. His statements cannot be verified, but they agree with the statements made by other defectors.
