North Korea claims "shocking evidence" of US plot to blame NK for counterfeiting

By Jon Herskovitz Thu Apr 20, 3:27 AM ET

SEOUL (Reuters) -
North Korea has charged the United States with counterfeiting its own currency and shifting the blame to Pyongyang, adding artists with "blood-shot eyes" in Japan are making cartoons attacking Pyongyang's leaders.

A spokesman for the Ministry of People's Security said in a statement the North had obtained "shocking evidence" Washington and Tokyo are producing false material that gives the impression Pyongyang is a criminal state, the North's KCNA news agency said late Wednesday.

"The CIA secretly enlist(s) experts on counterfeiting notes claimed to be the 'most sophisticated in the world' and invite(s) them to issue lots of fake currencies at 'counterfeit notes printing houses of North Korean-style' operating in U.S. military bases in different parts of the world," the spokesman said.

U.S. Treasury officials have briefed various governments about Washington's suspicions that North Korea has for years been producing a high quality copy of its $100 bill. U.S. officials have dubbed the copy the "supernote."

"Although Pyongyang denies complicity in any counterfeiting activity, at least $45 million in such supernotes of North Korean origin have been detected in circulation, and estimates are that the country earns from $15 million to $25 million per year from counterfeiting," the U.S. Congressional Research Service said in a report in March.

The North Korean spokesman said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had enlisted the help of artists in Japan to produce and distribute video tapes and CDs that falsely accuse North Korea of violating human rights and conducting illicit activity.

"The CIA and plot-breeding organizations in Japan are working with blood-shot eyes to produce animation files aimed at attacking the DPRK," the report said.

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