Friday, June 22, 2007

Superdollars

I had an interesting coincidence the other day. I have a friend who occasionally plays at a high stakes poker room in the District, and a few nights ago he noticed I was reading my book report book (Han Sorya and North Korean Literature -- almost as fun as high stakes gambling). "Hey," he said, "so you know why they only give out twenties at the poker game?"

"No," I shrugged.

"Well, it's cause North Korea is making these crazy hundred dollar bills. Which I think is ridiculous. I mean, do they really think that fake money is going to make it here from North Korea?"

But thanks to class earlier that day, I could tell him he was mistaken. The counterfeit US hundred dollar bills (called Superdollars!) are indeed making it to the States, and have caused quite a ruckus. The New York Times put out an interesting article on the subject about a year ago . . . it's rather long, but the first couple of pages are helpful, if you're not interested in reading the whole deal.
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5 comments:

Alison Hazell said...

hah. i just thought of rush hour 2. funny movie.

2:09 PM
Christina Sin said...

the fact that counterfeit money from north korea can reach us is a bit scary.

11:50 PM
Sang said...

As always, there were several conspiracy theories about this North Korean "supernote." One story that I heard was that it was actually CIA which circulated that counterfeit money (b/c those were way too sophisticated for the North Korean technology)to put the NK into trouble and freeze its accounts around the world. Nobody knows.. thought that was kind-a interesting.

9:25 PM
Jolan said...

I wonder who, exactly, is beginning such conspiracy theories? They seem to take away from the legitimacy of the North Korean government, at least in respect to its technological power (as well as its intense hatred of the United States). The article talks about how some of the technology was only available to governments; thus making it harder for the average North Korean thug to make these counterfeits, but certainly is evidence that a government operated production is feasible. North Korea has nuclear technology . . . I think that if they devoted enough time and energy (and money) to it, they could be making these Superdollars, as well.

12:09 PM
john ney said...

Here an article that relates to Sang's comment about the supernote CIA theories - The site is called Korea is One!! so objectivity may be up for debate

http://www.korea-is-one.org/spip.php?article2796

3:29 PM

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