North Korea’s hidden wildlife trade: new research reveals state involvement

North Korea is notorious for its illicit trade in weapons and narcotics. But a new investigation that I conducted with colleagues in the UK and Norway reveals a new concern: the illegal trade in wildlife, including species supposedly protected by North Korea’s own laws.

Based on interviews with North Korean refugees (also referred to as “defectors” or “escapees”) – from former hunters to wildlife trade middlemen – our four-year study shows that almost every mammal species in North Korea larger than a hedgehog is opportunistically captured for consumptive use or trade. Even highly protected species are being traded, sometimes across the border to China.

Perhaps most striking: this isn’t only happening in the black market. The North Korean state itself appears to profit from unsustainable and illegal wildlife exploitation.

After the North Korean economy collapsed in the 1990s, the country suffered a severe famine that resulted in between 600,000 and 1 million deaths. No longer able to rely on the state for food, medicine and other basic needs, many citizens took to buying and selling goods – sometimes stolen from state-run factories, or smuggled across the border with China – within a growing informal economy.

This included wild animals and plants, a valuable food resource. Others valued wildlife for its use in traditional Korean medicine, or for producing goods such as winter clothing. Importantly, wildlife could also be sold to generate valuable revenue. For this reason, as well as a domestic market in wild meat and animal body parts, an international trade developed in which smugglers would try to sell North Korean wildlife products across the border into China.

This trade is not officially recognised by either government and North Korea is one of the few countries that is not a party to Cites – the treaty that regulates international trade in endangered species – so there is little official data. Many of the techniques that researchers usually employ, such as market surveys or analyses of seizure or trade data, are simply impossible in the case of North Korea.

We turned instead to the testimony of North Korean refugees. They included former hunters, middlemen, buyers, and even soldiers who had been posted to hunting reserves set aside for North Korea’s ruling family. To protect their safety, all interviews were anonymous. To help verify our data we compared them to reports from China and South Korea, while reported changes in some forest resources could be verified using satellite-based remote sensing.

Their accounts provide an astonishing level of insight into human interactions with – and use of – wild animals and plants in North Korea.

North Korean state involvement in wildlife trade

Perhaps most concerning, however, were reports which suggested the North Korean state itself is directly involved in wildlife trade. Although it was clear from interviews that participants were often not aware of the legal status of wildlife trade in different species, based on our analysis, some of that trade would appear to be illegal.

Participants described state-run wildlife farms producing otters, pheasants, deer and bears, and their body parts, for trade. (Indeed, North Korea is believed to have first started farming bears for their bile, before the practice spread to China and South Korea.) The state also collected animal skins via a quota-based system, with residents submitting skins to a government agency, while state-sanctioned hunters and local communities sometimes gifted wildlife products to the state or its leaders as a form of tribute.

One species our interviewees identified was the long-tailed goral. Long hunted for its skin, this species is now highly protected under Cites. Our data suggested that gorals were destined for sale to buyers in China. As a party to the convention, this trade would violate China’s commitments under Cites.

Impacts beyond North Korea’s borders

The Korean peninsula is a globally important site for numerous mammal species. Its northern regions are connected by land to areas in China where these species are now recovering. However, unsustainable hunting and deforestation threaten their potential recovery in North Korea.

This has wider consequences. For instance, it has been hoped that the Amur leopard, one of the world’s rarest big cats, may one day naturally recolonise South Korea. But this is currently highly unlikely – these animals will face severe threats simply crossing North Korea.

Meanwhile, China’s conservation goals – such as restoring the Amur tiger in its northeastern provinces - may be undermined if threatened species which cross its border with North Korea are killed for trade. Furthermore, illegal cross-border trade in wildlife from North Korea would constitute a breach of China’s Cites commitments – a serious issue, with potentially severe ramifications for legal trade in animals and plants. To address this risk, Beijing must do more to tackle domestic demand for illegal wildlife.

North Korean wildlife trade is currently a blind spot for global conservation. While our findings help shed light on the issue of illegal and unsustainable trade, tackling this threat to North Korea’s natural resources will ultimately depend on the decisions taken by Pyongyang. Compliance with domestic protected species legislation should be an immediate priority.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and trustworthy analysis to help you make sense of our complex world. It was written by: Joshua Elves-Powell, UCL

Read more:

• South Korea to ban bear farming, but what to do about hundreds of captive animals that remain?
• Meet the meat-eating ducks of South Georgia
• Rewilding war zones can help heal the wounds of conflict

Joshua Elves-Powell received funding from the London NERC DTP and his work is supported by Research England.