Los Angeles Times North Korea has been quietly involved in the drug trade since at least 1976 In the past several years, most North Korean trafficking has involved methamphetamine and heroin destined for Japan, Taiwan, China and Russia, Andre D. Hollis, a Pentagon counter-narcotics official, testified at Tuesday's hearings.
North Korea's narcotics business has long been overshadowed by the regime's program to build nuclear weapons.
Smuggling heroin, the retired builder said, is more effective in destroying the West than making nuclear weapons.
"It's a good way to kill a country," he said. "You don't have to fire bullets. They'll make a lot of profit, and they'll bring the young of the country down to their knees."
Paddock reported from Wye River and Demick from Seoul. Times staff writer Sonni Efron in Washington and researcher Rie Sasaki in The Times' Tokyo Bureau contributed to this report. http://articles.latimes.com/2003/may/21/world/fg-heroin21