US official calls North Korea "criminal regime" News
US official calls North Korea "criminal regime"

[JURIST] Alexander Vershbow [official profile], the US ambassador to South Korea, on Wednesday called North Korea [government website; JURIST news archive] a "criminal regime" that is involved in arms sales, drug trafficking and currency forgery. Vershbow's comments came as he was explaining why the US has imposed economic sanctions against the country and follow North Korea's warnings that it could walk out of ongoing talks [State Dept. materials] over its nuclear situation if economic sanctions are lifted. In October, the US Justice Department indicted seven men [press release; BBC report] for the alleged distribution of high-quality counterfeit US bills, which the government accuses North Korea of forging. BBC News has more.