North Korea faces growing problems linked to drug trafficking, Japanese news media reported Wednesday.

According to the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, about 500 people were apprehended in the month of May last year for drug trafficking in an unidentified North Korean city and nearby areas. 

The reclusive regime’s crackdown suggests drug trafficking, which initially emerged along its Chinese border, is now spreading across other major cities. The Japanese daily based its report on a lecture given last year by the North’s State Security Ministry in South Pyongan Province, which addressed rampant drug use across the nation.

The minutes showed that a “well-connected person” belonging to North Korea’s elite circle is behind the spread of the illegal drug, Mainichi Shimbun reported. As controls have tightened in the border region, the black market for drugs has relocated to major cities in the North.

Narcotics have reportedly been referred to as “modern flu medication” or “healer of the 21st century” by North Korean drug users in urban areas. Some students have purportedly used such drugs to boost their energy for more effective study.

(mjk625@heraldcorp.com)