March 19, 2024
Analysis

Where is North Korea’s cosa nostra?

Tight networks, state terror, police efficacy may limit criminal activity

I am supposed to watch North Korean society and whenever possible, make sense of the trends and changes that I and other observers see. I do my best, but on occasion, I stumble across something that I positively cannot explain.

One of the mysteries of present-day North Korean life is the remarkably low level of violent crime and the near absence of a connection between crime and business activities in the country.

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