Kuala Lumpur: While the United Nations Security council has imposed nine separate rounds of economic sanctions on North Korea — the latest targeting its crude oil and energy imports — the reclusive regime still manages to partly fund its activities through trade that’s both illegal but highly lucrative.

$100 forgeries

According to US Treasury officials and the US Secret Service, the North Koreas are experts when it comes to producing forgeries of $100 bills. The bills, the US officials say, are very high quality and are one of the main reasons why the US Treasury had to redesign and relaunch its $100 note.

Counterfeit drugs

It’s not just currency the North Koreans are good at replicating. Fake Viagra and other drugs are produced en mass by facilities in the Hermit Kingdom, flooding Asian markets with black market pharmaceuticals.

Black-market weapons

The regime also pockets a profit from selling small arms and other weaponry to terrorist groups and organised criminal gangs, according to Interpol and security agencies in Europe and Asia.

Better than a movie

South Korean film director Shin Shan-ok and his wife, actress Choe Eun-hui, were kidnapped by North Korean agents in 1978 and taken to North Korea. The motive? The North Koreans wanted the couple to create a movie industry in the reclusive Communist state. The couple managed to escape eight years later.

2 million

North Koreans are estimated to have died during a famine there between 1996 and 1999.

200,000

North Koreans are estimated to be held in prison camps at any one time, subject to daily torture, beatings and abuses, human rights groups say.

$1,800

The average annual income for a North Korean in 2016, according to the CIA World Factbook.

$37,800

The average annual income for a South Korea in 2016, according to the CIA World Factbook.

1.2 million

North Korea troops are believed to be stationed along the De-Militarised Zone, the truce line that cuts across the Korea peninsula separating North from South.

60

The age at which North Korean men are no longer required to serve as military reservists in the Workers Guard.

6 million

The estimated strength of North Korea’s Workers Guard, the reserve army.

28

The number of haircut styles that are officially approved in the North Korean state, which controls all facets of life. Young men are not permitted to have hair more than 5 cms in length.

11

The number of holes-in-one recorded by Kim Jung-il the first time he played golf, according to state media. The leaders of the regime are regularly reported to be perfect sportsmen — and he scored a perfect 300 the first time he went bowling!