Episode 13 – Why is North Korea undergoing a major drug crisis?

Ask me about North Korea

The North Korean government’s reputation has for a long time been marred by many illicit activities with drug trafficking being only one of those. The diplomats from Pyongyang were particularly notorious in the 1990s and early 2000s for misusing their diplomatic privileges to smuggle in drugs into other countries. But did you actually know that unrestricted drug consumption is a problem in North Korea itself even until this day? In fact, even though the DPRK is one of the most restrictive countries on Earth, it does not ban cannabis, while some of its citizens capitalize a lot on drug trade. In this episode, I am trying to shed more light on this paradoxic situation with drug production and consumption in the DPRK. For the full transcript of the episode, references, and follow-up readings please visit the podcast’s website – www.askmeaboutdprk.wordpress.com