Sources say the counterfeiting continues. Even the new American currencies designed to counter counterfeiting have in fact proven to be copy-able by the North Koreans, and they're already circulating them. The North Koreans' diplomatic status and Macau's lax laws regarding money movements make it easier for suitcase-loads of fake American currency, worth millions of dollars, to be carried into the enclave. The bogus money, sources say, is laundered through a North Korean trading house in nearby Zhuhai, located in China's Guangdong province, where it is exchanged for Japanese or German currency. North Korea's Air Koryo arrives in Macau, one of its few overseas destinations Drug trade The North Koreans, sources add, are also into the drug trade.
Amphetamines are the primary drug sold.
They are made in North Korea, exchanged for cash on the high seas with gangs, who distribute the drugs in Taiwan and Japan, and the North Koreans deposit the money in several of Macau's banks. Moving money is relatively easy. Learning about the West Macau's freewheeling environment is also a valuable training ground for North Korean intelligence agents to learn about the West. Kim Hyun Hui, a young agent, said he spent several months in the mid-1980s living in Macau and learning how to operate outside North Korea's closed and tightly controlled society. He eventually posed as a Japanese tourist, and planted a bomb on a South Korean airliner in 1987.