The Nork crime families

Washington Times:

A group of offspring of senior North Korean communist and military leaders, including Kim Jong-il's sons, have been linked by Western intelligence authorities to Pyongyang's illicit activities around the world, including distribution of counterfeit $100 bills and drug trafficking.

The unofficial group, known as "Ponghwajo" ("Torch Group"), is led by Oh Se-wan, the son of a senior leader in North Korea's National Defense Commission. That senior leader, Gen. Oh Kuk-ryol, is also a key player in the succession of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to his son Kim Jong-un.

The group, which operated internationally and inside North Korea until at least 2005, was disclosed as the United States, South Korea and other nations are set to step up pressure on the North after an international investigation made public on Friday revealed that a North Korean torpedo fired from a submarine sank the South Korean warship Cheonan, killing 46 sailors.

A Treasury Department official involved in monitoring and countering North Korean illicit activities for the past five years said, "We have had concerns about the North Korean involvement in a wide range of illicit activities, including counterfeiting and drug trafficking."

"We continue to have concerns about North Korean counterfeiting, both manufacturing and distributing counterfeit $100 notes," the official said, noting that North Koreans are continuing to use international financial institutions as part of the criminal activities.

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The North Korean Torch Group was described by officials as similar to China's "princelings," the sons and daughters of Chinese Communist Party and military leaders who have amassed fortunes through businesses and their family connections within the ruling Communist Party system.

Kim Kwang-jin, a former North Korean official who was involved in Pyongyang's state-run insurance fraud to earn hard currency, said he was not familiar with the Torch Group. However, he said its existence "is very likely since there were several cases similar, including some officials who were running their small groups with different code names like the Mokran group." The groups would seek to emulate Kim Jong-il's lifestyle, which included parties and sex orgies.

Oh Se-won, 39, was first identified several years ago by U.S. intelligence after investigators linked him to counterfeit bills found in Las Vegas in 2004 and to the drug-trafficking case of the North Korean ship Pung Su, which was seized by Australian authorities in April 2003 and found with 330 pounds of heroin on board.

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According to the Western intelligence officials, Kim Jong-il's third son and designated successor, Kim Jong-un, has close ties to the Torch Group and has known its members since he was in his 20s.

Kim Jong-chol, Mr. Kim's second son, also is linked to the group and, according to the officials, he obtained drugs from the Torch Group.

The Torch Group first surfaced in 2005 after investigators were able to link the North Koreans to the 2003 upgraded version of the supernote counterfeit $100 bill. The bills were traced to production in late 2004 at a plant in North Korea called the Pyongsong Trademark Printing Factory, the national mint in Pyongyang.

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The group transported the counterfeit bills to China and Macao and then on to Southeast Asian nations, where the notes were exchanged for legitimate currency. The group was able to obtain $20 in legitimate currency for every counterfeit $100 supernote.

The U.S. government crackdown on the Banco Delta Asia in Macao was prompted in part by the counterfeit supernote operations that were run by the Torch Group, the officials said.

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There is more.

The crackdown on the bank in Macao put direct pressure on the regime and resulted in the first cracks in their resistance to negotiations with the Bush administration. We should look at further banking crackdowns to squeeze this thugocracy. The Norks have become the world's largest RICO operation. While I am generally opposed to lawfare, I think I can make an exception in the case of the Norks. We should be indicting all of these operatives.