June 09, 2004
Parts is Parts
Police target members of a particular ethnic group for selling illegal substances. Well, it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that folks have cried foul about this scenario. Except this time, it’s not what you think. It’s about a group of Korean Americans who were caught in a Virginia sting operation for allegedly buying bear parts. Yup. Bear gall bladders. As well as illegal ginseng.
- The government says the Virginia sting was one investigation among many nationwide that focused on the black market for such ingredients. Prosecutors and law-enforcement agents say everyone charged in the case was warned that their purchases were illegal.
Asian-immigrant advocates, however, said the buyers were unfairly targeted because of their cultural beliefs.
"The focus of the sting operation — to target the buyers — already has an assumption that the buyers are going to be Korean-Americans," said Jun Koo, a program coordinator and director for the Korean American Coalition's Washington chapter He stressed he spoke only for himself, not the group.
In the sting, agents for the state game department and the National Park Service posed as sellers of illegal wild ginseng and bear parts. Agents who did not speak Korean warned the buyers that the activity was illegal, using a mix of short, English sentences and pantomime, for example, of being led away in handcuffs. The approach enraged Korean communities as knowledge of the sting spread.
Julia Dixon, a spokeswoman for the state game department, stressed that the sting had uncovered only the "tip of an iceberg" in the black market for illegally harvested traditional medicines. She also said that like farm-grown ginseng, legal alternatives exist for coveted bear parts such as gall bladders.
Traditional Chinese medicine considers black bear gall bladders to have the ability to treat spasms and skin lesions, among other conditions. Ginseng's properties are believed to include the ability to combat diseases in which the body is wasting away. Wild versions of both are seen as stronger.
Here’s the link.