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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
“… the only government in the world today that can be identified as being actively involved in directing crime as a central part of its national economic strategy and foreign policy. … In essence, North Korea has become a ‘soprano state’ - a government guided by a Worker's Party leadership whose actions, attitudes, and affiliations increasingly resemble those of an organized crime family more than a normal nation.
From September 2005, the US shifted the primary focus of its North Korea attention from nuclear weapons to crime and human rights, denouncing North Korea as a “criminal state” or “soprano state.” This paper reflects on why it might have done this and considers the implications.
1 David L. Asher, “The North Korean criminal state, its ties to organized crime, and the possibility of WMD proliferation,” Policy Forum Online, No. 05-92A, Nautilus Institute, 15 November 2005.
2 Jimmy Carter, “Saving nonproliferation,” The Washington Post, 28 March 2005.
3 Steve Rendall, “Ignoring the U.S.'s ‘Bad atoms,’ “Z-Net, 11 May 2006.
4 Robert McNamara, “Apocalypse Soon,” Foreign Policy, May-June 2005, reproduced in Japan Focus, 8 May 2005.
5 Selig S. Harrison, “Did North Korea Cheat?” Foreign Affairs, January-February 2005, and at Japan Focus, No 186.
6 Selig S. Harrison, “Crafting Intelligence,” March 2005. Japan Focus No 229.
7 Selig S. Harison, “South Korea-U.S. Alliance under the Roh Govrnment,” Korea Policy Review, February 2006.
8 Selig S. Harrison, “South Korea-U.S. Alliance under the Roh Government.”
9 Juan Cole, “Fishing for a Pretext in Iran,” Z Net, 18 March 2006.
10 Leon V. Sigel, “An instinct for the capillaries,” North East Asia Peace and Security Network, Policy Forum Online, 9 May 2006.
11 “South Korea, Russia wants diplomatic push, China blames US policy,” Agence FrancePresse, 1 September 2003.
12 Charles L. (Jack) Pritchard, “Six Party Talks Update: False Start or a Case for Optimism,” Conference on “The Changing Korean Peninsula and the Future of East Asia,” sponsored by the Brookings Institution and Joongang Ilbo, 1 December 2005.
13 Joseph Kahn and David E. Sanger, “U.S.- Korean deal on arms leaves key points open,” New York Times, 20 September 2005.
14 For relevant documents, Korea and World Affairs, vol. xxix, 3, Fall 2005, pp. 45-464.
15 North Korean Foreign Ministry Statement of 20 September 2005, ibid., p. 458.
16 “U.S., Partners end N. Korean nuclear project,” Associated Press, 22 November 2005.
17 Korea and World Affairs, pp. 455-464
18 See also this author's “A North Korean Visitor to the White House, 17 July 2005, Japan Focus, No. 335,
19 “Korea's place in the Axis,” Foreign Affairs, 81, May-June 2002, pp. 79-92; and Victor D. Cha and David C. Kang, Nuclear North Korea: A Debate on Engagement Strategies, New York, Columbia University Press, 2003, p. 153.
20 Michael Horowitz spoke in December 2004 of his belief that North Korea would implode within the year, and of the possibility of finding generals within the North Korean military prepared to work with the U.S. and to bring about a coup so that “Defense Committee Chairman Kim Jong Il,” he said, “won't be able to enjoy the next Christmas.” Seung-Ryun Kim, “Horowitz: North Korea will explode within one year,” Dong A Ilbo, 24 December 2004.
21 Nicholas Eberstadt, “Tear down this tyranny,” The Weekly Standard, 29 November 2004.
22 Guy Dinmore and Anna Fifield, “U.S. hardliners grab North Korean Policy reins,” The Financial Times, 20 December 2005. Selig Harrison defines slightly differently what he calls the “Axis of Evil within the administration”: David Addington, VicePresident Cheney's Chief of Staff, Deputy National Security Adviser J.W. Crouch, and John Bolton's successor as Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and National Security, Robert Joseph. (Harrison, “South Korea-U.S. Alliance under the Roh Government”).
23 Daniel Glaser, deputy assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, stated
that North Korea “needs to cease its criminal financial activities,” Quoted in Josh Meyer and Barbara Demick, “N Korea running counterfeit racket, says US,” Sydney Morning Herald, 14 December 2005.
24 Philippe Pons, “Les Etats-Unis tentent d'asphyxier financierement le regime de Pyongyang,” Le Monde, 26 April 2006.
25 National Security Strategy of the United States, March 2006.
26 Bruce B. Auster and Kevin Whitelaw, “Upping the ante for Kim Jong Il,” US News and World report, 21 July 2003.
27 According to a PEW survey. “American public views north as biggest threat,” Joongang ilbo, 19 November 2005.
28 Peter Gregory and Geesche Jacobsen, “Freighter crew cleared of drug charges,” Sydney Morning Herald, 6 March 2006.
29 One, at least, the Swiss industrial supply company Kohas AG, vigorously contested the charges. (ISN Security Watch, “Swiss firm denies ‘Axis of Evil’ link,” 4 April 2006.)
30 State Department director Peter Praher says 41 billion cigarettes are produced annually for an income to Pyongyang of between 500 and 700 million dollars. (“US Senate Hearing on N. Korea's illicit activities,” Chosun Ilbo, 26 April 2006.)
31 “US accuses North Korea of $100 bill counterfeiting,” Washington Times, 12 October 2005.
32 Meyer and Demick, cit.
33 “US says N. Korea ‘criminal regime’,” BBC News, 17 December 2005.
34 Kwang-Tae Kim, “Agency: North Korea not counterfeiting,” Associated Press, 2 February 2006.
35 Deputy Assistant-Director of the US Secret Service to a Senate hearing, quoted in “US Senate hears about N. Korea's illicit activities,” Chosun Ilbo, 26 April 2006
36 Sigel, cit, 9 May 2006.
37 Klaus W. Bender, Moneymakers -The Secret World of Banknote Printing, Weinheim, Germany, Wiley-VCH Verlag, 2006. Bender quoted here from interview with Associated Press on 19 April 2006.
38 Nigel Cowie (General Manager of Daedong Credit Bank), “US financial allegations - what they mean,” Northeast Asia Peace and Security Network, Policy Forum Online, 4 May 2006.
39 Philippe Pons, “Les Etats-Unis tentent d'asphyxier financierement le regime de Pyongyang,” Le Monde, 26 April 2006.
40 General Assembly, Resolution 10437 of 16 December 2005.
41 Seymour M. Hersh, “The Iran Plans,” The New Yorker, 17 April 2006.
42 William Arkin, “Not just a last resort: A global plan with a nuclear option,” Washington Post, 15 May 2005.
43 Chosun ilbo, 6 June 2005.
44 White House Counsel Albert Gonzales, who in 2002 advised the president that the torture prohibition in the Geneva and UN Conventions was “quaint” and “obsolete,” was subsequently elevated to the position of Attorney-General. Noam Chomsky, Failed States: The abuse of power and the assault on democracy, Crows Nest, NSW: Allen and Unwin, 2006, pp. 40-42.
45 Steve Lendman, “The US gulag prison system,” Z-Net, 21 April 2006.
46 Roy U.T. Kim, “U.S. Intelligence flaws on North Korea,” Ohmynews, 13 January 2006.
47 Jay Lefkowitz (US Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights), “Freedom for all Koreans,” The Wall Street Journal, 28 April 2006.
48 Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, quoted in “US pressure on N. Korea may not be effective, Seoul,” Reuters, 3 May 2006.
49 Yang Sung-chul (former Korean ambassador to the US), “On Korean question: rhetoric and realities,” Korea Herald, 19 April 2006.
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