Possibly the source of the North Korea/Pachnko connection

[heima]

A few weeks back I read something or saw something somewhere that Japanese pachinko parlors are funding North Korean terrorist.

Firstly, does North Korea have terrorists? And secondly, what the hell logic is that original premise anyway?
The Yakuza are keeping the pachinko revenue for themselves.

Anyhow, I discovered this website. And for no apparent reason, there is a North Korean railroad development map in the middle of the article.
I think this is what initiated the dumb rumor. Take a look.

Pachinko: Declining Popularity or a Continuing Japanese Social Problem? :: JapanFocus

[p.opus]

It is a misprint. Figure 1 was supposed to be a graph.

A disproportional number of parlors are owned by Koreans. That, more than anything, is more likely the reason for the rumor than some misprinted web article, in which the illustration in an article has nothing to do with the content.

[emmadog]

I have no idea if its a rumor or not but I've read a couple of interesting articles and seems entirely plausible to me. First I don't think there were ever any terrorists. It was more about the money being sent home to relatives which in turn helped support the regime that spent millions on nuclear weapons and starved the people.This was going on during the 90's when 100's of thousands of N. Koreans starved to death and people were eating tree bark and picking through animal dung for bits of grain. Just like the typical Westerner is clueless about the reasons the Middle East is such a constant problem area, its even more so concerning North Korea.
A couple of eye opening, excellent books:
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea:Amazon:Books

Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West:Amazon:Books

[candyflip]

There's very good intelligence that discusses the North Korean mafia link to Japanese pachinko parlours, that the Japanese themselves discuss.

The real truth is something none of us are privileged to know of course - but the rumours are quite strong over there.