Zokwang Trading - History

History

Zokwang Trading was founded in 1974 in Macau, then a colony of Portugal, soon after the new Portuguese government installed by the Carnation Revolution established diplomatic relations with North Korea. North Korean government officials and other sources state that the company engages in legitimate business transactions, purchasing cigarettes, food, liquor, televisions, and luxury goods for shipment to Pyongyang. However, police long had suspicions about Zokwang's activities.

Kim Hyon Hui, one of the agents who carried out the bombing of 1987 Korean Air Flight 858, stated in her autobiography Tears of my Soul that prior to the bombing, she and her partner Kim Sung-il had used Zokwang Trading's office as a base while living in Macau, learning Cantonese so that she and other North Korean agents could pose as Macau or Hong Kong locals. In 1994, the United States government also made accusations that Zokwang Trading were engaged in arms sales and other illegal technology transfer. Later that year, the Macau police raided Zokwang Trading, and discovered counterfeit United States currency in the amount of hundreds of dollars. In 2005, Zokwang Trading's accounts with Macanese banks Banco Delta Asia and Seng Heng were closed at the request of US financial regulators; sometime the following year, they moved across the border to Zhuhai.