North Korea accused of drug-running

North Korea is smuggling illegal drugs through the Russian Far East as part of desperate efforts to fight a domestic economic crisis, a senior military intelligence official was quoted as saying.

The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted the unidentified official as saying the Russians have seized several shipments of heroin and opium that were being smuggled by North Koreans. The official spoke after claims this week by a North Korean defector that Pyongyang is secretly running poppy farms nationwide to produce opium that it exports to earn hard currency. Moscow - AP