S. Korea, 5 other Asian nations launch consultative body on drug crimes

South Korea's spy agency said Tuesday it has launched a consultative body with its counterparts in five Asian countries to better fight drug trafficking in the region. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) said it held an inaugural meeting with intelligence agencies in five Southeast Asian nations -- Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand -- and discussed the issue of an expansion in major drug rings in the region and drug trafficking in cyberspace. They also decided to share information on drug crimes involving several countries on a real-time basis and draw up a joint response scheme to better combat drug-related crimes, when needed. More than 70 percent of drugs seized in South Korea have been smuggled from abroad and most of them are believed to originate from the so-called Golden Triangle involving the border areas of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, the NIS said. Source: Yonhap News Agency