Cigarette firms find major counterfeiting operation in North Korea: WSJ

Yonhap News (South Korea) ^ | January 27, 2005

[HAL9000]

WASHINGTON, Jan. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has established itself as the leading counterfeiter of brand-name cigarettes, circulating more than two billion packs a year worldwide from Taiwan to Belize, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

Cigarette maker Philip Morris was tracking down the source of fake Marlboros, and a year later in 2005, the company connected them to North Korea, the paper said.

Cigarette companies have hired former intelligence officials to crack down on the operation and even sent agents into North Korea, and what they discovered was an ongoing lucrative business in the hermit state, sanctioned by the government, it said.

At least one of the knock-off cigarette factories is allegedly controlled by North Korea's security service, while another is linked to a group of elites in the country's Communist Party leadership, said the daily.

An undercover agent hired by Philip Morris went into North Korea, disguised as a buyer looking for bogus cigarettes, according to papers filed in federal court in Washington last year.

The agent was shown a cigarette plant on the east coast of North Korea and was also offered fake U.S. currency, according to the paper.

North Koreans received some US$400,000 for bogus cigarettes and counterfeit American dollars, it said, and Philip Morris notified the U.S. Secret Service of the agent's discovery.

In a separate case from 2004, three Asian men admitted to smuggling counterfeit goods and currency into the U.S, including fake cigarettes, fake $100 bills and fake Cialis, a male-impotency drug; the cigarettes were traced to North Korea, the daily said.

North Korea's distribution network is believed to be global in scale, involving major organized crime rings. Fake cigarettes originating from the communist nation were confiscated in Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam and Belize, it said.

"Much more dangerous things than cigarettes can flow along these same routes," a Bush administration official was quoted as saying.

"The North Koreans could import technology and export strategic goods and weapons. It's a big deal."

North Korea has been able to build the counterfeit cigarette business after major tobacco manufacturers, sued by the European Union and others for allegedly supplying smugglers with cigarettes to circumvent taxes, moved their products out of the criminals' hands, the paper said.

Also, counterfeiters decided to hide in North Korea after China began to crack down on cigarette counterfeiting, it said.

[joebuck]

"It was a sort of status symbol, really."

You bet! Back in my smoking days I tried every cigarette imaginable. I tried all the American brands and a lot of the trendy European brands. In my opinion Marlboro was the best cigarette on the face of the earth. I don't think I (or any other committed smoker) could get burned more than once on the fake Marlboro's because I would recognize in a second that I wasn't smoking the real thing. Nobody is going to pay extra for Marlboros they know aren't real Marlboros.