Därför biter inte världens sanktioner på Nordkorea

The illicit activities of the North Korean state extend to the manufacture and sale of illegal drugs, the manufacture and sale of counterfeit goods, human trafficking, arms trafficking, counterfeiting currency, and other areas. Many of these activities are undertaken at the direction of, and under the control of, the North Korean government, and their proceeds go toward advancing the country's nuclear and conventional arms production, funding the lifestyles of the country's elite, and propping up the national economy. Unlike other corrupt nations or criminal syndicates, the extensive nature of these illegal endeavors, and the fact that they are directed and sanctioned by the highest levels of government, has led to the nature of the North Korean state being defined as a form of "criminal sovereignty" by foreign policy experts such as Paul Rexton Kan and Bruce Bechtol. However, there are questions remaining about the level of government involvement in each of the criminal enterprises. There is little doubt that the North Korean state has been behind counterfeiting currency, human trafficking, the arms trade etc., but the level to which it has been involved in the drug trade after the collapse of the Public Distribution System in the 1990s is not clear as semi-private and private black markets have arisen since then and some high-ranking officials may only be engaged in illicit trade for personal benefit.