63p of North Korean money by James Cridland on 2010-01-08 06:43:58
Put the champagne bottle down and cease all premature celebrations. Recent announcements of a spate of North Korean defectors, some of whom were from the core class, are not necessarily any harbingers of regime collapse. More likely it is merely a few cadres beginning to understand that things might be turning against them, and – seeing an opportunity to avoid potential problems – make off with whatever they can.
With this string of defections, now is the time to find out what information we can extract from these financial insiders regarding Kim Jong Un’s personal cash caches overseas. I can think of no reason why we ought not to be able to pursue this enough to firstly, severely disrupt Kim’s private purse, and secondly, expose the institutions that abet them in hiding his secret hoards.
Put the champagne bottle down and cease all premature celebrations. Recent announcements of a spate of North Korean defectors, some of whom were from the core class, are not necessarily any harbingers of regime collapse. More likely it is merely a few cadres beginning to understand that things might be turning against them, and – seeing an opportunity to avoid potential problems – make off with whatever they can.
With this string of defections, now is the time to find out what information we can extract from these financial insiders regarding Kim Jong Un’s personal cash caches overseas. I can think of no reason why we ought not to be able to pursue this enough to firstly, severely disrupt Kim’s private purse, and secondly, expose the institutions that abet them in hiding his secret hoards.
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Robert E. McCoy is a retired U.S. Air Force Korean linguist and analyst/reporter who was stationed in Asia for more than fourteen years. He continues to follow developments in East Asia closely. Mr. McCoy’s book Tales You Wouldn’t Tell Your Mother is now out. He can be contacted via his website http://musingsbymccoy.com/ which also lists his previous essays and has personal vignettes on Asia (Tidbits) not published elsewhere.