Sleepy Macau gets North Korean wake-up call

By Edward Neilan
Special to World Tribune.com

TOKYO--Add the sleepy Portuguese enclave of Macau to the list of places in Asia where North Korea is causing trouble.

Money laundering, gun-running, terrorist activities, counterfeiting and narcotics trafficking are among the pastimes engaged in by the men from Pyongyang.

Sheer gangsterism could be added to that list without damaging its validity or veracity.

During the British administration of Hong Kong, American law enforcement officers helped keep the North Koreans out of the Crown Colony, except for transit at the old Kai Tak Airport and more recently at the new Chek Lap Kok Airport.

Gang activity in Macau had been blamed mostly on Chinese triads in recent years, but North Koreans were squarely in the middle. The situation became so bad that China announced it would deploy troops in Macau after it assumes control Dec. 20,1999.

Portugal has ruled Macau for 442 years, making it the oldest European settlement on the China coast. The 6.2 square-mile enclave of some 503,235 population, of which all but three percent are Chinese and said by pop historians to be comprised mainly of "priests, pirates and prostitutes."

Like nearby Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese rule in July 1997, Macau will become a largely self-governing "Special Administrative Region."

North Korea is trying to beat the rap of its bad behavior in Macau by moving its act to Hong Kong. After China took over Hong Kong, North Korea applied to set up a consulate in Hong Kong and Beijing approved the application in early May.

The Hong Kong Police advised China against allowing the North Koreans into Hong Kong but China had to say "yes" since South Korea already has five consulates in China to only two (including Hong Kong) for North Korea.

Hong Kong Police are said to be currently involved in investigation of several cases involving North Korean counterfeiting and gunrunning. Diplomats in Hong Kong have been quoted as saying North Korea might use the city as a base for its nuclear and missile program shipments.

Pyongyang's Macau operations are headquartered in what is supposed to be a trading company located near the historic Dom Pedro V Theater.

It is believed that flights of Air Koryo, the North Korean airline, will soon be allowed into Hong Kong. At present the airline flies Pyongyang-Beijing-Macau on a charter bass. Many North Koreans use Air Macau which flies regularly from Beijing. The flights continue on to Taiwan, which accounts partly for the recent surge in business activity between Pyongyang and Taipei.

On May 15, Beijing-backed banker Edmund Ho, 44, was elected by a select committee to become the local leader after handover. He will replace Portuguese Gov. Gen. Vasco Rocha Viera. Ho is the son of former "Mr. Macau" banker Ho Yin and was once bailed out of business difficulty by Beijing, much in the way that Hong Kong's leader Tung Chee-hwa became beholden to China through business failure.

The shift of much of North Korea's shadowy activity to Hong Kong will help ease Ho's law-and-order concerns. But looming on the horizon is another problem: whether to leave Macau's lucrative nine casinos in the hands of one man, Stanley Ho (no relation), 71, or split up the gambling pie when the present franchise expires in a few years.

Macau's upside is its European architecture, Portuguese wine and a spicy African chicken dish introduced by soldiers from Portuguese Mozambique stationed in Macau in the 1960s. Since the fabled Bela Vista Hotel is being transformed into the Portuguese Consulate, there is one of the world's most gracious small hotels remaining, the 23-room Pousada de Sao Tiago, built on the site of the historic Barra Fort.

Visitors may also visit the Kun Iam Temple where the United States and China signed their first "Treaty of Friendship and Trade" on July 3,1844. The way Beijing-Washington relations have been strained lately, the parties ought to try signing a new treaty in the quiet atmosphere of Macau, conducive to reflection.

Edward Neilan (eneilan@crisscross.com) is a veteran journalist, based in Tokyo, who covers East Asia and writes weekly for World Tribune.com.