The Truth Printed in the Dark: The Trajectory of North Korea's Counterfeit Money Strategy 1990s to Early 2000s

The Truth Printed in the Dark: The Trajectory of North Korea's Counterfeit Money Strategy 1990s to Early 2000s

From the mid-1990s to the 2000s, North Korea is believed to have circulated so-called "super notes," counterfeit $100 bills of unparalleled accuracy in the world. These counterfeit bills were tracked for years by the U.S. Treasury Department, the Secret Service, and the CIA, and eventually came under international condemnation as a deliberate state-sponsored illegal act. The printed bills were so elaborate that it was difficult to distinguish between authenticity and forgery with the naked eye, and the paper and ink used were not available on the regular market, reaching a level that could only be reproduced with the resources of state agencies.

The subject was mainly old-design $100 bills issued before 1996. The sophistication of the printing technology makes it difficult to believe that this was the work of a mere criminal organization, and several witnesses have confirmed that the North Korean Central Party, the Ministry of State Security, and even "Room 39," a secret department of the Workers' Party, had systematic control over it. In other words, the counterfeit currency is considered proof of a "state criminal economy" in which the North Korean state was actively involved in order to prolong its own life and obtain foreign currency.

The counterfeit bills were distributed to various countries through trading companies and diplomats. In particular, a bank in Macau called "Banco Delta Asia" (BDA) is believed to have been a money laundering hub, and the U.S. government has blacklisted the bank. In addition, North Korean diplomats were cashing counterfeit bills via casinos and black markets in third countries. Organized crime networks such as the Chinese Triads and Japanese gangs were also involved in this process, and the counterfeit bills spread through the cracks of the legitimate financial system to the rest of the world.

In 2002, counterfeit dollar bills were seized in Germany, the Czech Republic, and Russia, strongly indicating the possibility of their origin in North Korea. In 2004, a North Korea-related account opened in a Macau bank was frozen, attracting the attention of the international community as conclusive evidence of state-sponsored money laundering.

In addition, along with counterfeit dollar bills, North Korea is alleged to have been involved in the manufacture of counterfeit brand-name products, such as fake Viagra and fake Marlboro drugs and cigarettes. These, too, were means for North Korea to obtain foreign currency under sanctions, indicating that the country was fostering an underground economy with direct state involvement in the midst of economic hardship.

Thus, North Korea's counterfeit currency activities go beyond mere underworld crime; they are a "false currency empire" constructed by the state itself. Through physical paper money, it cast a shadow over behind-the-scenes diplomatic negotiations and was intricately intertwined with tensions between the U.S. and North Korea as well as the nuclear issue. In a sense, what was printed on the back of the dollar bill was North Korea's isolated national strategy itself, and the "silent provocation through currency" that the international community faced.

While maintaining the appearance of a state, North Korea sought to prolong its life through illegal channels. North Korea's behavior undermines the "trust in law and currency" that has been the premise of the postwar world order. Counterfeit money is not just paper. They are the front line of a modern currency war, where taut lines of tension between state and darkness, trust and betrayal, and sanctions and counter-sanctions intersect.