North Korea’s once-lucrative cigarette smuggling operations into China have ground to a halt after Beijing launched a sweeping crackdown on illicit tobacco distribution, officials said. Daily NK sources said Chinese police and the State Tobacco Monopoly Administration arrested traders, confiscated contraband, and tracked deliveries via firms like SF Express and ZTO Express since August 3. The clampdown left major North Korean firms, including Korea Sinhung Trading Corp. and Amrokgang Tobacco Co., scrambling for new foreign currency sources.
Chinese partners have suspended dealings, fearing heavy fines and confiscations. “Activities to earn foreign currency through cigarette smuggling run into trouble as Chinese traders quit the business all at once,” one North Korean source said.
With distribution channels collapsing, Pyongyang’s trading companies are now under pressure to find alternative exports. Traders in China say the current campaign is harsher and longer-lasting than past crackdowns, raising doubts about the future of North Korea’s tobacco trade.