Entrepreneurs Set Up Labs and Appear to Be Distributing the Drug Beyond the Borders. YANJI, China - After the North Korean coal mine where she worked stopped paying salaries, Park Kyung Ok tried her hand at business. Buttons and zippers, candy and dried squid, fabric, plastic tarpaulins, men's suits and cigarettes. "I sold just about everything," said Park, 44. But it wasn't until she started hawking methamphetamine in 2007, she said, that she was able to earn a living. Methamphetamine, known as orum, or "ice," is a rare commodity manufactured and sold in North Korea, where most factories sit idle, the equipment rusted or looted. The North Korean government once produced the drug, and others that are illicit in the West. Resourceful entrepreneurs have since set up their own small facilities, and evidence suggests that they are distributing the drug beyond the nation's borders. [continues 1127 words]
BALTIMORE -- Participants in the historic Caravan for Peace with Justice and Dignity already have tried to hold Mexico responsible for the violent drug war that its government estimates has claimed at least 60,000 victims and devastated families. Now, they want the United States to accept its share of blame. The caravan set off in mid-August from Mexico City on a journey to 27 cities - many in border states - to raise awareness about the drug war. The caravan, sometimes including up to 500 participants in cars and buses, was scheduled to end last week in Washington, D.C. [continues 536 words]
If law enforcement figures are any guide, Korea's illegal drug problem pales in comparison with much of the rest of the world. There were 7,011 arrests for drug offenses in 2011, according to the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, a 7 percent drop from the previous year. The U.S., by way of comparison, in 2010 made more than 1.6 million drug arrests, more than 36 times Korea's figure, even after differences in population are accounted for. "Korea is a relatively drug-free country," said Hwang Sung-hyun, a professor of criminology at Cyber University. "Internationally, the qualification of a drug-free country is whether there are more than 10,000 narcotics-related convicts. In the case of Korea, from 1999 to 2002, the number reached more than 10,000 for four consecutive years, but from 2003 to 2006, the number was reduced to 7,000 and in 2007, the numbers again reached more than 10,000." [continues 1099 words]
Dear editor, There is a middle ground between drug prohibition and blanket legalization. Switzerland's heroin maintenance program has been shown to reduce disease, death and crime among chronic users. Providing addicts with standardized doses in a clinical setting eliminates many of the problems associated with illicit heroin use. The success of the Swiss program has inspired heroin maintenance pilot projects in Canada, Germany, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands. If expanded, prescription heroin maintenance would deprive organized crime of a core client base. This would render illegal heroin trafficking unprofitable and spare future generations addiction. [continues 91 words]
BUENOS AIRES - In January, U.S. President Barack Obama nominated Marine Corps Lieutenant General John F. Kelly to head the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). Based in Miami, Fla., USSOUTHCOM runs military operations throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, and is the key U.S. "drug warrior" in the region. Across the region, the key question, among civilian and military leaders alike, is whether the change in commanders will bring with it a change in focus. The top priority for USSOUTHCOM is to fight narcotics trafficking from the Andes to the Rio Grande. With the Cold War's end, fighting communism was no longer the U.S. armed forces main objective; USSOUTHCOM increasingly concentrated on pursuing coercive anti-drug initiatives, and funds to fight the drug war were plentiful. But the change in commanders is an opportunity for the U.S. to revise, at long last, its regional doctrine in order to address other pressing security needs. [continues 537 words]
The amount of narcotics confiscated in the first six months of the year increased 20 percent compared with the same period last year, the government said Tuesday. A growing number of large-scale smuggling attempts contributed to the increase, it said. According to the Korea Customs Service, a total of 26.6 kilograms of assorted drugs had been seized during the January-June period, up 24 percent from the same period a year earlier. The amount for this year is worth around 45.2 billion won ($35 million), up 145 percent from a year ago, and was enough to be administered to 520,000 people, the office said. [continues 65 words]
Actress Kim Bu-Seon's Calls On National TV For Marijuana Use To Be Legalized Are Causing A Public Uproar. In a pre-recorded interview on MBC's live morning show on Friday, the 46-year-old, who has advocated the legalization of the drug, said, "Marijuana is not a narcotic; it is technically an Oriental herbal medicine which Koreans have used for 5,000 years." Kim, who has been arrested for marijuana use several times, launched a campaign for the drug's legalization in 2004 after being sentenced to a suspended jail term. She then filed a petition with the Constitutional Court for a review of the constitutionality of the country's marijuana-related laws. [continues 322 words]
Three American basketball players who had been fired from their South Korean teams for smoking marijuana were sentenced to suspended jail terms by a local court Monday. The Suwon District Court sentenced Terrence Shannon and DeAngelo Collins of the Seoul SK Knights and Calvin Warner of the Anyang KT&G Kites to six months in prison with a one-year suspension for smoking the illegal drug at downtown Seoul hotel in January, according to Yonhap News Agency. Collins, who left the team and South Korea with a knee injury, admitted to the charges, while other two pleaded not guilty. Shannon and Warner were expelled from their clubs in February. Under South Korean law, marijuana users can be sentenced to a maximum of five years in jail or fined up to 50 million won ($33,300). [end]
Dear editor, The U.S. drug war is a cure worse than the disease. Attempts to limit the supply of illegal drugs while demand remains constant only increase the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed their desperate habits. The drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. Drug prohibition finances organized crime at home and terrorism abroad, which is then used to justify more drug war spending. [continues 252 words]
Korea's Status As Drug-Free Country Is in Danger It is alarming enough that Korea has been used as an intermediate base for an international drug trafficking ring involving Taliban insurgents. Even more shocking was none of the nation's intelligence and law enforcement agencies had known it until they were given a tip by the Pakistani government. The loose narcotic control stemming from equally lax immigration and customs checkup systems as well as the recent surge in the number of drug users in this country could deprive Seoul of its reputation as a drug-free country. [continues 408 words]
INCHEON, South Korea - Some dogs are destined to catch Frisbees, others to sniff out the bad guys. At least that is what South Korea customs officials believe after ordering seven cloned copies of one of the best drug-sniffing dogs ever to poke a nose in bags at the airport. The puppies, born last fall, are clones of a Labrador retriever named Chase, judged by the customs service to be one of their top dogs. They have been in training almost since birth and show strong signs of possessing the genes -- and noses -- necessary to combat narcotics trafficking, according to the Korea Customs Service. "The differences are so small that I really can't tell the puppies apart," trainer Kim Nak-seung said Thursday. [continues 202 words]
The Supreme Prosecutors' Office said Sunday it arrested a total of 10,649 drug offenders in 2007, up 38 percent from the previous year's 7,711. The number of philopon users accounted for the largest with 8,521, up 42 percent from 2006; followed by marijuana smokers with 1,170, up 40 percent. "More than 10,000 drug offenders were seized between 1999 and 2002. But the figure drastically dropped from 2003 thanks to the stiffer regulations," a prosecutor said. "But the number surged last year. It's time to take substantial measures to clamp down on use of illegal drugs." [continues 94 words]
The government has introduced several tough measures to counter foreign English speaking teachers' drug consumption and trafficking, but they are recurring. The absolute number of drug offenses by foreigners is a lot less than Koreans. But what worries government officials is that despite tough screening for the selection of instructors at schools, they are seeing native English speaking instructors being arrested for the use of banned drugs. A group of foreign drug traffickers including a native English teacher at a primary school were arrested on Wednesday. Yeonsu Police Station in Incheon, 40 kilometers southwest of Seoul, said it apprehended a 21-year-old American, identified only as W, and eight other foreign nationals. Also among the arrested was a foreign English teacher who worked at a primary school. [continues 353 words]
HONG KONG -- For American law enforcement agencies the smuggling investigations were among their most elaborate, producing dozens of arrests and hard evidence that Chinese criminal gangs had smuggled counterfeit United States currency, cigarettes and drugs made in North Korea into the United States. The investigations, concluded 20 months ago, also produced a money trail that led to the Chinese gambling enclave of Macao, where American investigators concluded that criminals linked to North Korea were laundering their earnings. This effort produced the hard evidence for the United States to place financial sanctions against Banco Delta Asia, a small, family-owned bank in Macao, near Hong Kong. But those sanctions became a major sticking point in international efforts to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons program. [continues 1128 words]
Rampant abuse of narcotics is pervading all sectors of our society. What is worrisome is the fact that new narcotics, unheard of here before, are easily finding their way into the country in accordance with the growing internationalization of drug trafficking. Another terrifying fact is that they are no longer bought and sold secretly in drinking houses or on the black market among habitual users. They are openly marketed through Internet sites under the cover of being sleeping pills or health food. [continues 441 words]
HONG KONG -- When helicopter-borne Australian commandos stormed a freighter three years ago after it was spotted unloading 110 pounds of high-grade heroin, the ship proved to be registered in Tuvalu, a tiny island nation in the South Pacific. When a Spanish warship stopped a freighter carrying cement to Yemen four years ago, the cargo vessel turned out to be carrying 15 Scud missiles as well and was registered in Cambodia. The two freighters had something in common: although registered elsewhere, both were owned by North Korea. [continues 977 words]
Dear Professor Hayes: I was the victim of entrapment. I was viewing a message board about concerts in Seoul. One posting on the board said that they were interested in knowing where to purchase marijuana. I heard of a person who sold marijuana near Hongik University so I left my e-mail and said we can go together and purchase the marijuana together. When we arranged a meeting it was the police. I am facing time in jail, embarrassment, and a lot of costs. I looked up the word in an English dictionary and I think this is entrapment. Can you use this type of argument in Korea? [continues 409 words]
YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea -- Students Against Destructive Decisions at Seoul American middle and high schools will host multiple events Oct. 21-28 as part of their "Red Ribbon Week." The group kicks off the week Oct. 21 with a 10K fun run at Collier Field. Other events are to be held daily at the two schools. A SADD Youth Jam will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. Oct. 28 on the lawn area between the putting green and Commiskey's. The event will feature food and entertainment including youth bands, games and skateboarding. [continues 162 words]
Incessant Efforts Needed For Effective Crackdown We are alarmed at the news that the volume of narcotics being smuggled into this country is increasing lately. According to the concerned authorities, the recent rise in drug smuggling derives from the fact that Korea is being used as a stopover for international narcotic trafficking. However, it may also be true that some of the smuggled drugs could find end-users among the people here, although the situation concerning illegal drug use, trafficking or manufacturing may not be as significant compared to that of other countries. But, this is no reason for complacency _ this year alone, the prosecution arrested 88 people for drug-related crimes and confiscated 3.5 kg of methamphetamine, also called philopon, and 1.77 kg of canabis. [continues 355 words]
Dear Sean Hayes: I am an English teacher from Canada who was arrested for being in an apartment where marijuana was found. We were all hauled down to the police department and tested for marijuana. We all tested positive and I was deported by immigration and my friends are still facing criminal charges. Please inform others of the law so others won,t receive the same fate as us. Unemployed in Vancouver. Dear unemployed: A word to the wise to all recreational drug users in Korea: either stop what you are doing or return to your home country. The use of drugs in Korea is a serious offence and the law enforcement authorities will eventually catch you. [continues 367 words]
POSSIBLE North Korean Government involvement in the Pong Su heroin importation demanded urgent discussions at the highest level. Relations between Australia and the secretive communist regime, run by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, were already strained. The rogue Stalinist state had earlier been named by US President George Bush as a member of the Axis of Evil, along with Iran and Iraq. Repeated refusals by those on board the fleeing Pong Su to pull into port meant police had an international diplomatic incident on their hands. [continues 1680 words]
This month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on Afghanistan that could pave the way for a new and more open-minded approach to counter-narcotics strategies worldwide. In fact, the resolution calls on the participants at a conference of donors, to take place in London at the end of January, "to take into consideration the proposal of licensed production of opium for medical purposes, as already granted to a number of countries." This proposal was originally made by the Senlis Council, an independent organization based in Paris, during a workshop in Kabul last September. The text introduced by the European Liberal Democrats, with the support of virtually all political groups in the European Parliament, is revolutionary, not only because it goes against conventional thinking, but also because it raises the issue above the stagnant reality of the "war on drugs." In Afghanistan, that so-called war has essentially been based on eradication campaigns and alternative livelihood projects, which have achieved only scant results. [continues 759 words]
As Indonesia steps up the fight against illegal drugs, hundreds hectares of marijuana are allegedly being grown in North Sumatra province by a drug syndicate and the police appear to be unable or unwilling to take action. This was stated by North Sumatra councillors Ahmad Hosen Hutagalung and Mahmudin Lubis recently. They added that the marijuana plantation was in a mountainous area of Mandailing Natal regency. The councillors said the plantation had been operating for some time but the police had not done nothing about it. [continues 334 words]
The U.S. government cannot ban criminals from bringing guns to schools. But it can arrest a person for growing marijuana at home to ease nausea from chemotherapy. Such is the state of Supreme Court jurisprudence. The intellectual case for America's "war on drugs" faded long ago. Criminalization of what is primarily a moral and health problem has done little to stop substance abuse. But the "war on drugs" has penalized the desperately ill and dying, who have turned to pot as a last resort. [continues 668 words]
The Korea Customs Service said yesterday it had found 19 cases of narcotics smuggling into Korea by international mail or express shipping services this year through May, nearly double that of the same period of last year. It added that the number of cases uncovered where drugs were carried by hand declined to 13 from 14. Of 35 cases investigated, 40 percent involved marijuana, of which more than 70 percent was smuggled by mail or express shipping services from the United States and Canada. Many of the recipients were English teachers from the two countries, working in local private institutes, who got the drugs for their own consumption, the agency said. Methamphetamines, representing 57 percent of the cases, were smuggled mainly by Koreans from Asian countries. [end]
The Korea Customs Service (KCS) will step up efforts to crack down on drug smuggling by increasing investigation staff and expanding surprise checks. The customs agency said that it decided to dispatch additional agents analyzing tourist information to its Inchon customs office and conduct surprise checks on all passengers of an airplane more than once a day. Inchon international airport is a major route for smugglers to import contraband goods. The agency will also expand its advance information check system dubbed "Advance Passenger Information System!/!/ to 13 airports and seaports nationwide. The system is currently in operation at Inchon, Kimhae and Cheju airports. [continues 69 words]
SEOUL In addition to the military threat it poses, North Korea is likely a state sponsor of drug trafficking, the U.S. State Department said in its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. On at least two occasions in 2004, the report said, North Korean diplomats were arrested after using their positions for drug smuggling. In one instance, Egyptian authorities arrested two North Korean diplomats with 150,000 tablets of a drug normally used to treat seizures. And in December 2004, Turkish officials arrested two North Korean diplomats and charged the men with smuggling more than $7 million worth of an illegal synthetic drug. [continues 244 words]
March 10, 2005 -Actress Kim Boo-sun was hardly the talk of the town until recently. As a soft-core pornography actress who hit her peak in the 1980s, Ms. Kim, now 44, seemed to be past her prime. She has served several jail sentences for drug use and also suffered from the social stigma of being a single mother after she had an affair with a married man. With the passage of time, however, the baby girl became a teenager, and last year Ms. Kim made a long-awaited comeback. [continues 877 words]
International Drug Rings Allegedly Use the Country As Trafficking Base South Korea has been recognized as a "drug-free" nation in the international community, thanks to its efforts to keep illegal substances out of the country since 1989. Narcotics experts, however, have expressed concern that the nation might be deprived of the honor before long. According to statistics, only 16 out of every 100,000 South Koreans were arrested on drug-related charges last year, far lower than 572 out of every 100,000 Americans in 2000. Comparable figures stood at 411 in Australia, and 353 in Thailand in 2001 and 220 in Britain in 1998. [continues 887 words]
Regarding Doug Bandow's Oct. 12 commentary, Afghanistan profits from the opium trade because of drug prohibition, not in spite of it. Attempts to limit the supply of drugs while demand remains constant only increases the profitability of drug trafficking. For addictive drugs like heroin, a spike in street prices leads desperate addicts to increase criminal activity to feed desperate habits. The U.S. drug war doesn't fight crime, it fuels crime. Heroin produced in Afghanistan is primarily consumed in Europe, a continent already experimenting with harm reduction alternatives to the drug war. Switzerland's heroin maintenance trials have been shown to reduce drug-related disease, death, and crime. Addicts would not be sharing needles if not for zero-tolerance laws that restrict access to clean syringes, nor would they be committing crimes if not for artificially inflated black-market prices. [continues 80 words]
A narcotic crime expert claimed marijuana should not be regarded as a narcotic, supporting a female actress who filed a petition with a court to decide whether the laws banning marijuana are constitutional. His remark and the petition are expected to draw a new debate on marijuana, which some often argue is safer than cigarettes. The nation had a law related to the control of marijuana to regulate those smoking the material since 1965, but the law was absorbed into the law governing narcotics in 2000. Currently, people smoking marijuana are thus punished as narcotics criminals. [continues 454 words]
Afghanistan's presidential elections came off with little violence but some damaging controversy. President Hamid Karzai's 15 opponents charged vote fraud. Whether the election is perceived as legitimate is only the second most important issue facing the war-torn nation. Most critical is whether the Bush administration risks undermining the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban in an attempt to suppress drug production. Unfortunately, Afghanistan has become a global Opiates-R-Us. In a nation where the average wage is a couple of dollars a day, heroin and opium trafficking produced revenues last year estimated at $2.3 billion annually - as much as 60 percent of Afghanistan's official annual GDP. Opium has become the perfect export from a land enveloped by chaos and war. [continues 686 words]
WASHINGTON - Reaction to last month's meeting between Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister, and Kim Jong II, the North Korean leader, was nothing short of underwhelming. Critics said Mr. Koizumi gave up too much - millions in medical aid and thousands of tons of rice - to secure the return of five children of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea more than two decades ago. He also failed to obtain a definitive commitment from Mr. Kim to dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. [continues 710 words]
The skirmishes between the Thai government and human rights organizations are escalating into a full-blown war. This is silly, and too many people are getting hurt. Hina Jilani's job at the United Nations is to monitor the safety and freedom of people around the world who work on behalf of human rights. She came to Thailand for eight days in May 2003, in the aftermath of the first, bloody phase of the government's war on drugs. She has now presented her report. [continues 592 words]
SEOUL (AP)--North Korea lashed out Friday at a new U.S. State Department report accusing the communist regime in the strongest terms to date of state-sponsored drug trafficking, denouncing it as a "mud-slinging" smear campaign. The annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, released Monday in Washington, painted North Korea as an increasingly bold trafficker in methamphetamine and heroin and said Pyongyang was likely backing it "for profit as state policy." It cited recent drug seizures throughout East Asia and testimony from defectors who say North Korea has large-scale poppy cultivation for opium production. [continues 326 words]
The recent seizure of the ship Pong Su off Australian waters and its cargo of more than $144 million of heroin has put North Korea's drug trafficking in the international spotlight. The attention is long overdue. North Korea has for many years been deeply involved in the drug trade, and unlike other North Korean misdeeds, there is little debate over or sympathy for its actions. There must be a strong response by the international community and concerted efforts to halt North Korean drug trafficking. The upcoming ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) meeting in Cambodia provides a ready platform to begin this anti-drug effort. [continues 900 words]
NORTH Korea, accused of selling weapons and illegal drugs to prop up its bankrupt regime, was linked today to a big drug seizure in South Korea. South Korea police seized 50kg of methamphetamine, a banned stimulant drug, in a raid Tuesday in the southern city of Busan, investigators said. The ship reportedly came from China through North Korea before docking at the southern port city of Busan. The United States says illegal drugs are one of North Korea's top exports, along with missiles, bringing in hundreds of millions of dollars into state coffers every year. [continues 324 words]
IN a dramatic confession to the US Congress, two men identified as high-ranking North Korean defectors today said they had been intimately involved in test-firing Pyongyang's missiles in Iran and a state-sponsored drugs ring. The men, led into a congressional hearing wearing black hoods, gave evidence behind a screen to conceal their identities. They currently live in South Korea, but were brought to the United States by two refugee advocacy groups. Their appearance came as the Bush administration tries to turn the spotlight on North Korea's alleged criminal behaviour after making little obvious progress to end a simmering crisis over the communist state's nuclear weapons programs. [continues 522 words]
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea denied it was involved in an attempt to smuggle heroin valued at $50 million by ship into Australia last month, as the Bush administration signaled it was set to take a much tougher line on Pyongyang's alleged narcotics trade. U.S. officials have said in recent days that they believe illicit drug sales by North Korea play a key role in funding dictator Kim Jong Il's weapons programs. Officials at the U.S. military command in Seoul say Pyongyang earns $500 million to $1 billion annually from the drug trade. [continues 408 words]
WASHINGTON: The United Nations is at odds with the United States over the activities of another member of the so-called axis of evil, with its international narcotics agency saying it has no evidence that North Korea i s operating an illicit drug trade. "If you take the war in Iraq, the reason was the weapons of mass destruction," said Herbert Schaepe, secretary of the UN International Narcotics Control Board. "The inspectors from the [UN] atomic energy agency did not find any; the US did not find any. Is this a good parallel?" [continues 654 words]
The Taiwanese fishing vessel steered into waters off North Korea last June, hoisting a black flag with the image of a bull. A North Korean gunboat, manned with sailors in what looked like naval uniforms, soon pulled up. A member of each crew showed a torn half of a red Taiwan hundred-dollar bill bearing the image of Sun Yat-sen, founder of Taiwan's government. When the halves matched, the North Koreans transferred 198 plastic-wrapped bricks of heroin to the fishing vessel. [continues 1809 words]
The Communist State Is The Number Two Producer, After China, Of Ice Seized In Japan When the rusty fishing boat arrived from China via North Korea for an offshore rendezvous, its crew got an unwelcome surprise - it was boarded and searched by the Japanese coastguard. Peeling back a wooden panel to reveal a hidden compartment, officials found 10 boxes containing more than 150kg of North Korean methamphetamines, a potent stimulant that has long been the illegal drug of choice for abusers in Japan. [continues 353 words]
The US has accused North Korea of operating a multi-million-dollar narcotics industry, with diplomats used to sell heroin and amphetamines overseas. A US military official in Seoul said that drug-trafficking had become a crucial source of foreign currency for North Korea as the communist country battles to save its crumbling economy from collapse. The comments, made in a briefing to the Financial Times, were among the most explicit US allegations to date that North Korea is involved in international crime. [continues 369 words]
The National Police Agency (NPA) said yesterday that 577 people, among the 869 suspects arrested since Aug. 8 on drug-related charges, are now being held in custody. By type of drugs, the number of people caught for using psychotropic substances including methamphetamines accounted for the most with 422, or 73 percent, followed by 142 booked for smoking marijuana. Unemployed people accounted for 37 percent of the crimes. Police said they will step up the crackdown on drug-related offenses to prevent smuggling of controlled substances into the country ahead of the Busan Asian Games slated for Sept. 29-Oct. 14. [end]
A former lawmaker, a college professor and other figures of high standing were arrested yesterday on charges of taking narcotics. The anti-narcotics department at the Seoul District Prosecutor's Office arrested 10 people suspected to have illegally smoked and possessed marijuana. They include Kwon Hun-sung, 43, a former legislator of the Democratic Liberal Party, Prof. Kang Byong-sok, 48, of Hongik University, and Park Jong-kyu, 43, the son of a former prime minister. A 52-year-old photographer identified only as Lee and a 33-year-old singer named Yoo were also among those caught for illegal drug use. [continues 117 words]
The police, vowing to clean up the world of show business, have targeted 30 singers and actors SEOUL - South Korean television actress Sung Hyung Ah is among 30 stars, singers and models who are being targeted by law-enforcement officials who see drug abuse as a scourge of the local entertainment world. The use of ecstasy, dubbed 'club drug', is especially prevalent among Korean entertainers, the officials said. 'Dope is prevalent in local show business, with some Korean-American entertainers playing a central role,' said Mr Chung Sun Tae, the chief of the anti-narcotics department at the Seoul District Prosecutor's Office. [continues 449 words]
The prosecution is expanding its probe into drug use by some entertainers following the recent arrest of eight suspects, including Seong Hyeon-ah, 27, a famous actress who got her start as Miss Korea, officials said yesterday. The narcotics department of the Seoul District Prosecutor's Office said they suspect three to four other entertainers were also involved in the case. On Thursday, the prosecution arrested eight people, including Seong, on drug charges. Seong and the other suspects allegedly were provided with ecstasy, a hallucinogenic drug, at hotel nightclubs, bars and karaoke establishments on six occasions last October. They also purchased the drug illegally twice last year, the prosecution said. [continues 107 words]
I am writing about your thoughtful editorial, "WAR ON DRUGS" (3-10-02). I strongly urge Korea not to adopt U. S. "War on Drugs" policies. It has been a total disaster for the United States. The net result of the U. S. war on (politically selected) drugs is that the former "Land of the Free" has more prisoners than any other country in history. With fewer than 5% of the world's population, the U. S. now has greater than 25% of the world's prisoners. Thanks primarily to our counter-productive war on certain drugs. [continues 89 words]
A three-month voluntary report period for narcotic addicts is to kick off tomorrow, if previous years are any guide. Separately from it, law enforcement officers plan to summon two to three more TV personalities suspected of drug abuse this week. This will likely be another difficult year for entertainers using prohibited substances. Unfortunately, however, these stars represent just a tiny, if most publicized, portion of the people yielding to the "white temptation." The number of narcotic offenders jumped 12.6 percent to 10,102 last year. Almost 80 percent of them were addicts of methamphetamine, or philopon, as the white powder is called here. Anti-narcotic agents seized 170 kilograms of the artificial drug, 3.7 times higher than in 2000, but actual circulation is estimated to reach 20 times of the confiscated amount. The latest hit is "ecstasy," a tablet variant of philopon, as the narcotic of choice at techno clubs. [continues 646 words]
Oil trumps diamonds. That is the irreducible lesson of the misspent life of Jonas Savimbi, the guerrilla leader who was hunted down and riddled with bullets by Angolan troops last week. Commodities weigh more on history's scale in Angola today than does communism or capitalism. Savimbi turned out to be neither nation-builder nor neocolonial despot: He was, in the end, Africa's Willy Loman, with the wrong line of goods on hand. The final episodes of Savimbi's long guerrilla war were financed by diamond traders rather than by the ideologues of Communist China (who supported him back when China really was communist) or by the Central Intelligence Agency, which was ordered to back Savimbi by Gerald Ford and later by Ronald Reagan. But Savimbi and his band of tribal warriors could not compete against the much larger resources the Luanda government gathered through its control of Angola's lucrative petroleum deposits. [continues 635 words]
Inside Korea
