Another good look into the nature of the Kim Family Regime and the importance of counterfeiting to the regime. Note the hard currency estimates (Marcus Noland and the Peterson Institute do some of the best north Korean economic research). Note the comments about the "middle class" in Pyongyang.
In regards to counterfeiting Coca Cola I would have to agree with their assessment. I think it is easier for the regime to get ahold of nuclear weapons designs than it is the secret Coca Cola recipe. (though I wonder if they tried to reverse engineered it?)
V/R
Dave
by Alex Melton | November 25th, 2012 | 07:00 am
North Korea has been known for its counterfeiting activities for decades. Products ranging from cigarettes to liquor to $100 US bills have been known to make their way out of North Korea. Typically, the counterfeit industry is export oriented. Counterfeiting activities are intended to earn hard currency by smuggling items through China and other nations. Our most recent estimates place annual income from counterfeit currency around $20 million dollars with another $100 million likely coming from counterfeit cigarettes. Given that North Korea likely runs current account deficits at around half a billion dollars a year, revenues from counterfeiting are much needed.
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