Subscribe to one of our news e-mail lists. But some people are wondering if China will tolerate North Korea's clandestine operations, or if it will seek to rein in its socialist neighbor. Macau is their center overseas point. Macau at the crossroads North Korea has used the tiny Portuguese enclave as a base for clandestine operations for years, diplomats, law enforcement and intelligence sources say. Macau police raided the company in 1994, and found several North Koreans carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in fake U.S. currency.
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.