[imText1]A new claim has been made that North Korea counterfeits U.S. dollar bills in Trademark Printery in Samhwa town of Pyungsung City in South Pyongan Province, and political prisoners have been forced to forge the bills.
Lee Sung Il (40, pseudonym for his protection) had been a resident of Pyongsung City before he entered South Korea in 2000. On the 30th of last November, he said to the DailyNK, “I am sure that North Korea counterfeits U.S. dollar bills in Trademark Printery located in Samhwa town of Pyungsung City. It is an open secret to the residents of Pyongsung. I directly heard about it from the trade workers of the Central Party, and of the National Security Agency.”
Lee Jung Soo (37, pseudonym for his protection) had once acted as a medium for smuggling operations by some trade workers of the Central Party before he entered South Korea in 2000. He said, “I heard some trade workers of the Central Party and of the National Security Agency say that forged U.S. dollar bills come from Pyongsung City. These trade workers frequently travel between Shinuiju of North Korea and Dandong of China to smuggle used Japanese cars to China.”
“The Chinese smugglers who bought the used cars also wanted to buy forged U.S. dollar bills from us. Forged bills are sold for half of the face value. Trade workers of the Central Party mixe forged U.S. dollar bills with genuine bills when they circulate them in volume. They take the forgeries from Pyongsung,” he revealed.
Lee Sung Il said, “The North Korean authorities force political prisoners to counterfeit the bills because they want to conceal their forgery from the international society by laying the blame on ‘some criminals.’ These prisoners will not be released from the prison because they have a life imprisonment sentence.”
According to Lee Sung Il, Trademark Printery located in Samhwa town of Pyongsung City is a small concrete building which does not bear any signboard. This building is surrounded by wire entanglements, and some soldiers are always on guard around it. But the residents of Pyongsung City know that it is for forgery even though they call it Trademark Printery. The name, Trademark Printery, is used to refer to virtually every sort of print houses, the most popular one of which prints post cards.
North Korea strictly prohibits its people from circulating forged bills. If a person is arrested for circulating 100 U.S. dollar bills, he will be sentenced to at least 5 years imprisonment.
Various information agencies around the world point to Room No.39 of the Central Party as the management conducting the forgery business. Room No.39 is known as the secret financial management office for Kim Jong Il. Forged bills are sold out to the world by trade workers of various units under Room No.39. They are also used for various international operations. In April, 1998, Kil Jae Kyung was expelled from Russia because he had tried to exchange finely forged U.S. dollar bills in Vladivostok. He was the associate head of the Secretariat for Kim Jong Il, and died in 2000.
North Korean forged U.S. dollar bills began to be circulated from the early 90s. Not a few people have been caught circulating them since then. On the 13th of last October, the U.S. authorities indicted 7 people including Sean Garland, the chief of the Labor Party in North Island for the circulation of forged U.S. dollar bills.
Until recently, many information agencies assumed the North Korean forgery would occur near Pyongyang Kyoryo Hotel. It is also the first time that we hear that the Kim Jong Il regime forces political prisoners to counterfeit U.S. dollar bills in order to conceal their forgery.
