Industry Import-export Founded 1974 | Headquarters Zhuhai, China Type of business State-owned enterprise | |
Zokwang Trading Company is a North Korean state-run import-export business based in Zhuhai, China. It is reportedly controlled by Room 39, a secret department of the government of North Korea.
Zokwang Trading are not on the official list of North Korean companies published by the DPRK portal site Naenara.
History
Zokwang Trading was founded in 1974 in Macau, then under Portuguese administration, soon after Portugal recognised North Korea, following the Carnation Revolution, in which a left-wing government came to power. It functioned as North Korea's de facto consulate in Macau, issuing documents and visas.
North Korean government officials and other sources state that the company engages in legitimate business transactions, purchasing cigarettes, food, liquor, televisions, and luxury goods for shipment to Pyongyang, but police long had suspicions about Zokwang's activities. One of its officers, An Gun-ho, was identified as a senior counterintelligence officer of North Korea's Ministry of Political Security.
Pyongyang was also alleged to have used Macau as a base for planning the 1983 Rangoon bombing, an assassination attempt on South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan, in which 21 people were killed, but the vice-president of Zokwang Trading, Kim Chol Jun, denied allegations of espionage.
Kim Hyon Hui, one of the agents who carried out the bombing of 1987 Korean Air Flight 858, claimed to have spent several months training at Zokwang Trading's office while living in Macau. In her autobiography, The Tears of My Soul, she wrote that, while living there, she learned Cantonese so that she and other North Korean agents could pose as local Chinese.
In 1994, the United States government also made accusations that Zokwang Trading were engaged in arms sales and other illegal technology transfer. Later that year, five employees of the company were arrested after trying to pass US$250 000 in counterfeit notes.
Before they were arrested, they had deposited US$100 000 in counterfeit notes, and had attempted to deposit a further US$150 000 before US banks in Hong Kong raised the alarm, but as they had diplomatic passports, they were later released.
Zokwang Trading held accounts with two Macau banks Banco Delta Asia and Seng Heng. In 2005, these were frozen at the request of US financial regulators. The funds were released in 2007.
During 2006, Zokwang moved across the border to Zhuhai.