KIM Jong-un is said to be giving top end Mercedes cars to members of his inner circle – but no one knows how he is getting them.
The North Korean dictator clearly isn’t short of cash despite ruling over an impoverished nation as he has been splashing out on a slew of fancy cars.
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The purchases would make him in breach of UN sanctions.
Kim, 39, has recently been seen riding around in four new foreign vehicles, including an armoured Mercedes Maybach S560 sedan, which would cost at least £179,000, other luxury Mercedes-Benz, Lexus SUVs and Ford vans, according to the Seoul-based NK News.
He has also been seen in a Rolls-Royce Phantom, in the past.
Mystery though surrounds just how Kim managed to get his hands on the vehicles and into North Korea.
The country has been restricted by severe United Nations sanctions in an attempt to curb the escalation of the communist regime’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.
Despite those sanctions, the regime has been able to smuggle in luxury items, including flash watches, designer bags and clothes as well as expensive alcohol, all enjoyed by Kim and his Pyongyang cronies.
Japanese cops last week foiled an attempt to smuggle a $70,000 Lexus into North Korea via Bangladesh, according to the Asahi Shimbun.
Police reportedly raided a car dealer who had allegedly claimed that Singapore was the vehicle’s final destination, breaking the Japanese Customs Act.
Despite huge swathes of the country in poverty and going hungry, Kim likes to show off his wealth and his liking for expensive, flashy items, including yachts, jet skis as well as fancy, high-end cars.
In 2018, he put on a grand show of riding to a historic meeting with the South Korean president in a black Mercedes limousine, flanked by a dozen bodyguards jogging along side.
Last weekend, state TV channel KCTV showed footage of Kim arriving in a new S650 sedan at the National Meeting of Mothers, where he gave a speech stating the importance of having children and bringing them up to love the regime, according to NK News.
Accompanying him was a convoy of Lexus and Toyota SUVs, some of which had been fitted out with new police lights and other emblems.
Despite the US and its allies carrying out surveillance operations to try to prevent sanction breaches, luxury cars and other top-end goods appear regularly in the country.
It’s thought a new route used by Russian cargo ships heading to North Korea’s Rason, on the country’s northeast coast, is thought to be facilitating the latest shipments.
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According to a 2019 report by the Washington-based Centre for Advanced Defence Studies, Pyongyang’s ability to smuggle vehicles through China, South Korea and Japan showed how it was also able to supply its nuclear weapons programme.
The centre said last week it had identified 17 vessels registered to Pacific nations that it believed were linked to “illicit” North Korean oil supply chains.
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