{"id":60256,"date":"2024-07-15T11:30:44","date_gmt":"2024-07-15T02:30:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=60256"},"modified":"2026-04-06T14:07:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T05:07:56","slug":"hyesan-officials-intensify-inspections-exported-items","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hyesan-officials-intensify-inspections-exported-items\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyesan officials intensify inspections of exported items"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Hyesan authorities have recently intensified their crackdown on items exported through so-called state smuggling. The authorities are aiming to stop items from secretly exiting the country without state permission.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK recently that \u201cseveral kinds of medicinal herbs have been exported in large quantities from Hyesan through state smuggling recently, but trading companies are frustrated because crackdowns have intensified several-fold compared to the past.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the source, some trading companies sneak precious metals into about one in ten shipments of medicinal herbs smuggled out of the country at the state&#8217;s behest. This is because if they sneak metals into the herb shipments, they can make a bit more profit since they need not pay for separate <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">waku<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, or trade permits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Medicinal herbs are state smuggling items that require relatively cheap <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">waku<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, while metals require more expensive <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">waku<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This is to say, trading companies employ the gimmick of secretly exporting metals while paying only for the herb <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">waku<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, boosting their profits.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, while enforcement on state smuggling was fairly lax as recently as mid-June, police and security agents have recently been going around storage places for smuggled exports to check whether other items are hidden in the shipments, inspecting the bags with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">jjikjjigi <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">or poking them with metal rods.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">jjikjjigi <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">is a kind of metal detector that emits a particular sound when it touches metal. Such devices are commonly used in customs houses where official trade is usually conducted, but they have recently been used to inspect state-led smuggling shipments, too. Essentially, the state is cracking down hard to stop trading companies from mixing unlicensed exports into their state-sanctioned smuggling.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><strong>Trade officials collude with smugglers to evade inspections<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In particular, inspections on state smuggling items have intensified even more in Hyesan recently, perhaps because the Ministry of State Security probed the illegal smuggling of used cars.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe authorities now conduct strict inspections of items to be exported through state smuggling, leaving not even an eye of a needle unchecked,\u201d the source said. \u201cExporters move at least 5 or 10 tons of medicinal herbs at a time, but with the authorities checking those huge shipments in full, companies have no room to employ their tricks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTrading companies engage in state smuggling, but besides the cost of the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">waku<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, they have to pay off police officers and security agents, and the Chinese side sometimes doesn\u2019t pay the agreed price, so it isn\u2019t easy to turn a profit,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some trade officials reportedly complain that they \u201cdon\u2019t know who they\u2019re doing this for,\u201d that they \u201ccan\u2019t do it any longer,\u201d and that they wish to get out of state smuggling \u201cthat earns money only for the state or the Chinese.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In response, some trading officials appear to be colluding with private individuals to open private smuggling paths, the source said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>Daily NK works with a network of sources living in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous for security reasons.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20240708-5\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hyesan authorities have recently intensified their crackdown on items exported through so-called state smuggling. The authorities are aiming to stop items from secretly exiting the country without state permission. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK recently that \u201cseveral kinds of medicinal herbs have been exported in large quantities [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":43402,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[645,649,67],"tags":[271,717,735,738,759,1052,1124,162],"class_list":["post-60256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","category-china-north-korea-border","category-news","tag-ryanggang-province","tag-smuggling","tag-trade","tag-hyesan","tag-china","tag-exports","tag-crackdowns","tag-ministry-of-state-security"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Hyesan officials intensify inspections of exported items - 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