{"id":30847,"date":"2015-05-29T15:29:45","date_gmt":"2015-05-29T06:29:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/en.dailynk.com\/en\/?p=30847"},"modified":"2020-01-17T08:51:39","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T23:51:39","slug":"office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/","title":{"rendered":"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN-US\">An investigation launched by Japanese<br \/>\npolice has revealed that Office 39, a special department charged with raising<br \/>\nfunds for Kim Jong Un\u2019s use, is involved in illegal operation exporting pine<br \/>\nmushrooms to Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese daily, reported on May 27th.<\/span>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN-US\">During a police raid on the home Huh Jong Do, the son of the head of the pro-North General Association of Korean Residents<br \/>\nin Japan [Chongryon], the authorities uncovered documents revealing correspondence<br \/>\nbetween the group and Office 39, revealing that North Korea has been exporting<br \/>\npine mushrooms to Japan in conjunction with Chosun&nbsp;<\/span>Specialty<span lang=\"EN-US\">&nbsp;Sales, an<br \/>\naffiliate of Chongryon.<\/span>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN-US\">An official with the investigation said it<br \/>\nwas the first time documents explicitly stating \u201cOffice 39\u201d have come to light,<br \/>\nleading police to push ahead with the investigation and assert the shadowy<br \/>\nagency\u2019s direct involvement in the illicit operation.&nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN-US\">Both Huh and Kim Yong Jak, head of Chosun Specialty<br \/>\nSales, were arrested on May 12th for violating laws administration of foreign<br \/>\ncurrency. Police investigations revealed that these two men had imported<br \/>\napproximately 1,800 kg of pine mushrooms from North Korea in September of 2010&#8211;a<br \/>\nclear violation of Japan\u2019s ban on trading with North Korea, implemented after<br \/>\nNorth Korea\u2019s second nuclear test in 2009. &nbsp;<\/span>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\"><span lang=\"EN-US\">Meanwhile, Washington D.C.-based Voice of<br \/>\nAmerica, quoting Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun, that Office 39, Huh, and Chosun<br \/>\nSpecialty Sales were all involved in the pine mushroom smuggling ring, dividing<br \/>\nthe profits among the involved parties.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An investigation launched by Japanese police has revealed that Office 39, a special department charged with raising funds for Kim Jong Un\u2019s use, is involved in illegal operation exporting pine mushrooms to Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese daily, reported on May 27th.&nbsp; During a police raid on the home Huh Jong Do, the son of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":30849,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-30847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An investigation launched by Japanese police has revealed that Office 39, a special department charged with raising funds for Kim Jong Un\u2019s use, is involved in illegal operation exporting pine mushrooms to Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese daily, reported on May 27th.&nbsp; During a police raid on the home Huh Jong Do, the son of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-29T06:29:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-16T23:51:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"249\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"246\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daily NK\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daily NK\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daily NK\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e0f6adc3d039444440ecc65e9e0aef5\"},\"headline\":\"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-29T06:29:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T23:51:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":255,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/\",\"name\":\"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-29T06:29:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-16T23:51:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2015\\\/05\\\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg\",\"width\":249,\"height\":246},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"name\":\"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daily NK English\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2026\\\/04\\\/top_logo@1x.png\",\"width\":272,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Daily NK English\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"description\":\"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.\",\"email\":\"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net\",\"telephone\":\"82-2-732-6998\",\"legalName\":\"DailyNK\",\"foundingDate\":\"2004-12-01\",\"numberOfEmployees\":{\"@type\":\"QuantitativeValue\",\"minValue\":\"1\",\"maxValue\":\"10\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/4e0f6adc3d039444440ecc65e9e0aef5\",\"name\":\"Daily NK\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png\",\"caption\":\"Daily NK\"},\"description\":\"Questions or comments about this article? Contact us at dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.dailynk.com\\\/english\\\/author\\\/dailynk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation","og_description":"An investigation launched by Japanese police has revealed that Office 39, a special department charged with raising funds for Kim Jong Un\u2019s use, is involved in illegal operation exporting pine mushrooms to Japan, Yomiuri Shimbun, a Japanese daily, reported on May 27th.&nbsp; During a police raid on the home Huh Jong Do, the son of [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/","og_site_name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","article_published_time":"2015-05-29T06:29:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-16T23:51:39+00:00","og_image":[{"width":249,"height":246,"url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Daily NK","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daily NK","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/"},"author":{"name":"Daily NK","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/4e0f6adc3d039444440ecc65e9e0aef5"},"headline":"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation","datePublished":"2015-05-29T06:29:45+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T23:51:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/"},"wordCount":255,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/","name":"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation - North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg","datePublished":"2015-05-29T06:29:45+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-16T23:51:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/05\/DNKF00013230_List.jpg","width":249,"height":246},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/office-39-implicated-in-pine-mushr\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Office 39 implicated in pine mushroom smuggling operation"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","name":"North Korea News \u2014 Daily NK | Latest DPRK Updates 2026","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#organization","name":"Daily NK English","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/top_logo@1x.png","width":272,"height":90,"caption":"Daily NK English"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"description":"An independent online news organization based in Seoul, South Korea, reporting on internal North Korean affairs through a network of in-country sources and defector journalists. Part of the Unification Media Group (UMG) consortium.","email":"dailynkenglish@uni-media.net","telephone":"82-2-732-6998","legalName":"DailyNK","foundingDate":"2004-12-01","numberOfEmployees":{"@type":"QuantitativeValue","minValue":"1","maxValue":"10"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/#\/schema\/person\/4e0f6adc3d039444440ecc65e9e0aef5","name":"Daily NK","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2020\/05\/images-1-e1589857625251-150x119.png","caption":"Daily NK"},"description":"Questions or comments about this article? Contact us at dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.","url":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/author\/dailynk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30848,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30847\/revisions\/30848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}