Friday, September 3, 2010
What Is Office 39?
When it comes to sanctioning rogue entities in the North Korean government, the question arises: Does one go after "Office 99," which oversees the regime's illicit arms smuggling? Or is "Office 39," which handles Kim Jong Il's sales of hard drugs and purchases of luxury goods, the better target?
This week the Obama Administration got the answer right when it sanctioned both Orwellian departments as part of a broader effort to punish Pyongyang for torpedoing a South Korean warship in March and killing 46 sailors. Those sanctions, along with this summer's joint U.S.-South Korean naval exercises, send "a signal to the North that provocative behavior will not go unpunished," as the State Department's Robert Einhorn put it on Monday.
Read more ....
My Comment: The Wall Street Journal's comments on Office 39 and Office 99 are a must read. The link is here.
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