Is This Sunshine
(Via. The Marmot) I guess it’s one thing to be silent about human rights, but another to allow drug running between the Koreas to go unabated
Five years ago, a Chinese ship called the Chuxing visiting the port of Pusan was found to be carrying 91 kilograms of methamphetamine. Customs officials and prosecutors let it go.
Two years later, officials nabbed 45 kgs of the same drugs from the same vessel. Again, they let it go.
In fact, according to customs and prosecution data, the plucky Chuxing has been caught smuggling drugs and counterfeit cigarettes no less than 12 times. And I think we may safely assume that on many occasions its cargo has made it unobserved into the Korean market.
The normal explanation for such a limp-wristed approach to law enforcement would be corruption: the gangsters must have got to the customs people. Or maybe they had a man on the inside. But in this case, it’s something else. The Chuxing is distinct because it plies an unusual route. For many years, it has been making a weekly run between Pusan and the North Korean port of Rajin.
Yes, it’s those North Koreans again. This time, they’re running drugs and counterfeits into South Korea. But the authorities here have been turning a blind eye in the greater interests of the sunshine engagement policy with North Korea.
