Japan's drug culture

[thomas]

Japan's booming drug culture

Compared to many other countries, including the United States, Japan's drug problem is small. But police say a recent growth in demand has been matched by increasing sophistication of drug smuggling operations. Those drugs include amphetamines from North Korea.

=> http://asia.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/01/01/japan.drugs/

Old, but related:

Pyonyang blamed for drugs (http://www.taima.org/news/nw000218b.htm)

N. Korea Flooding Japan With Drugs (http://www.mapinc.org/ccnews/v02/n1831/a09.html?348)

North Korean government deeply involved with organized crime? (http://www.emergency.com/nkoreadg.htm)

[SirJeannot]

they are still in the early stage of that phenomenon ...
but i think the "strictness" (i don't know the right word) does help a lot :)

[thomas]

Now we know what stimulates Kim & his comrades... :o

North Korea, in search of funds, suspected of plying Japan with illegal stimulants

Japan's illegal stimulant market — estimated to be worth more than 1.08 trillion yen (US$9.3 billion) annually — is an attractive target for North Korea. Largely cut off from the rest of the world, its economy has been teetering on the verge of collapse for years, weighed down by a high military budget, limited technology and little external trade.

Methamphetamines offer an easy fix. The drugs can be relatively easily and cheaply manufactured in labs, and transported to Japanese users at little risk because of this country's long and porous coastline. The latest customs figures show 1,113 kilograms (2,473 pounds) of methamphetamines from North Korea had been seized between 1999-2001. That was second only to China, with 1.78 tons. "We believe North Korea is capable of mass-producing top-quality stimulants," said Naoto Takeuchi, an anti-narcotics official at the National Police Agency. "There could be a government agency behind it."

=> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030216/ap_wo_en_po/as_fea_gen_japan_nkorean_drugs_1