According to local police, a North Korean diplomat surnamed Park and another North Korean national were arrested on May 3, 2015, while moving 4.6 kilograms of rhinoceros horns purchased from poachers in central Maputo, Mozambique. They were released later after paying bail of US$30,000. (image: Pixabay)
SEOUL, July 12 (Korea Bizwire) – North Korean diplomats have been engaged in the illegal trade of rhinoceros horns in Africa, a U.S.-based media report said Tuesday, citing a report from an international civic group based in Geneva.
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA), the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime has disclosed that North Korean diplomats have engaged in the trading of endangered animals in Africa for the past 30 years. Such transactions help the country earn badly needed foreign currency.
In its report on the banned rhino horn trade, the civic group said a total of 29 cases of illegal activities involving rhino horns and elephant ivory tusks linked to diplomats have been cited since 1986. Of the total, North Korean diplomats topped the list by being implicated in 16 cases.
Last year, a North Korean diplomat stationed in South Africa was caught participating in the illegal trade of rhinoceros horns in Mozambique.
According to local police, a North Korean diplomat surnamed Park and another North Korean national were arrested on May 3, 2015, while moving 4.6 kilograms of rhinoceros horns purchased from poachers in central Maputo, Mozambique. They were released later after paying bail of US$30,000.
Mozambique is the natural habitat of wild rhinoceroses, an endangered species often poached for its horns.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, an international agreement between governments regarding the trade of endangered plant and animal species, forbids the trade of rhinoceros horns.
Julian Rademeyer, a senior research of the civic group, told RFA that rhino horns sell at a high price like gold in international black markets, making them a good source of earning foreign currency for the impoverished North Korea, which is now under heavy international sanctions for its provocative nuclear and missile tests.
Rademeyer said that North Korean Embassies stationed in Africa play a role in earning foreign currency for the Pyongyang regime, claiming North Korea is a “criminal state.”
(Yonhap)
