Room 39

(The North Korean Government building known as “Room 39”)

 

The Claim

The Government run “Room 39” in north Korea is the headquarters of a massive fraud and drug processing operation.

 

Everyone loves a good government based conspiracy don’t they, and who better to pin one on than the north Koreans. Since the end of the second world war Korea has been split into 2 separate countries and the relationship between them has been shaky at best.

 

The south is a democratic country that’s open to the world and trades with many nations, but the north is a different story. North Korea is a communistic country ran by dictator Kim Jong-un who has implemented many aggressive forms of propaganda and restrictions on his people. Kim Jong-un inherited his position from his father, Kim Jong-il who inherited his position from his father before him.

 

The infamous Room 39 is believed to fund many of the governments activities through the use of illegally obtaining funds. Room 39 was started by Kim il-sung sometime during the late 1970’s and was named as such due to office that was first used to house the project, office number 39. Today what is known as room 39 is a large government run complex with numerous office buildings and what appear to be production facilities.

 

Room 39 is believed to be involved in gold and zinc mining, crop and fish exports, textile trading and controlling a range of dodgy companies which often change names and are believed to be used as a source to commit various types of fraud and money laundering. Its also been suggested that it processes various types of drugs into more potent forms, such as refining poppy products into heroin and mass producing crystal meth.

 

Many people may think that this is nothing more than slander between opposing governments, but there has been a good amount of evidence that room 39 is involved in some very suspicious dealings. In 2007 the North Korean government was found to be involved in illegally obtaining and selling Russian oil in Singapore, as well as printing off huge amounts of counterfeit $100 bills.

 

Along side this the $500 million a year textile industry that comes out the country is thought to be mostly, if not entirely controlled by room 39, as textiles received in the West have been found to have been produced in North Korea, but contain labels and paperwork suggesting they came from China.

 

One of the main methods they seem to use to get away with all their dealings is to go through partners in China. A man named Ri Jong-ho who was a senior official at room 39 for close to 30 years defected to the south, and eventually north America. He explained how most of the goods produced in the country would be sent to China were they would be sold off as Chinese products to evade trading bans and sanctions etc..

 

The money would then be sent from China back to North Korea by boat and train where it would then be invested in a whole range of companies, most of which are in foreign countries. The restaurant chain “Pyongyang” which appears in various Western countries is believed to be owned by Room 39, as is the Taesong Bank and the Zokwang trading company.

 

Though there has been a reasonable amount of evidence that Room 39 is involved in some very dodgy stuff, the north Korean government will of course never admit any of it. They maintain the complex is simply government administration buildings and so cannot be inspected by any outside nation.