Chong_Chon_Gang
Chong Chon Gang
North Korean cargo ship
Chong Chon Gang (Korean: 청천강호; Hanja: 淸川江號[1]) is a North Korean cargo ship, later renamed the Tong Hung San.
The 155 m (509 ft) general cargo ship was built in 1977[2] in Nampo. Its owner is listed as Chongchongang Shipping of Pyongyang.[3] Chongchongang Shipping may be a front company answering to "Office #39" (otherwise known as the Central Committee Bureau 39) of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), which is responsible for state-sanctioned illicit activities such as the smuggling of prohibited items including weapons and luxury goods. Office #39 was created in 1974 as a department-level organization within the WPK Secretariat under the WPK Central Committee. According to a study published by the US Strategic Studies Institute, its primary role was and still is engaging in illegal activities in order to generate hard currency for the North Korean government.[4]