How Kim gets luxury Western cars, after 70 years of sanctions against North Korea (and why Putin noticed it) – Corriere.it

How Kim gets luxury Western cars, after 70 years of sanctions against North Korea (and why Putin noticed it) – Corriere.it

From cars to watches, from iPhones to wine, Kim Jong-un is constantly supplied with so-called Western “luxury products”, banned under UN sanctions. “Lesson” is also useful in Moscow

“Punishments are illegal, harmful to everyone and useless.” Signature: Urging any Chinese politician to express Beijing’s official position on the Ukrainian crisis and international isolation to stifle Russian aggression.

there China He traditionally opposes any “interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states” and for this reason also refuses to participate in itagainst Russia (So ​​far there is no evidence or indications that he has violated it on a large scale, but Xi Jinping He never fails to make his associates repeat it The strategic partnership with Moscow is “solid, resilient and will strengthen”).

However, in relation to another neighboring country and a “client”, more than an ally, Xi Jinping has put the weight of his economic power on the side of international sanctions: this is North Korea.

The United States imposed the first sanctions against the Pyongyang regime in the 1950s, after the Korean War launched by Kim Il Sung, and increased its power in the 1980s following attacks and attacks orchestrated by the Kim dynasty.

In 1994, President Bill Clinton watered it down, at the height of diplomacy. which failed.

The file was passed to the United Nations in 2006, when North Korea conducted a file First nuclear test: An underground explosion caused a small earthquake felt in neighboring China and a major diplomatic earthquake. In 2006, the United Nations Security Council launched the first package of sanctions: it is forbidden to sell war technology to North Koreans that could be used for nuclear or missile purposes; Ban on luxury productsto give a reference to the Kim family and their bosses.

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Those first sanctions were also voted on by China and Russia, which have two permanent seats on the Security Council (but were neglected by the two neighboring powers). In 2009, the second nuclear explosion in North Korea and the second package of sanctions that expanded the embargo on military supplies and allowed UN member states to inspect ships bound for Korea and destroy any shipment related to the nuclear program.

Kim Jong-un, who inherited power in December 2011 after his father’s death, hasn’t stopped: the number three nuclear test in 2013 (and new sanctions), again with the Chinese and Russians not enforcing it with great enthusiasm. The turning point was in 2016 and 2017, when three more underground nuclear explosions were so powerful and threatening that the Security Council issued a near-total ban (bolstered by national sanctions imposed by Washington).

where, Beijing has closed the taps of tradewhich was equal to 90 percent of North Korea’s total.

Kim Jong Un didn’t starve (They are 23 million North Koreans, including 1 million ordinary soldiers in the army who suffer from a lack of food.) especially The war industry in Pyongyang Continued design, development and launch New and increasingly powerful missiles (13 tests already this year).

All available resources are directed to the outcome of the weapons of mass destruction programme; On the other hand, the efficiency of the conventional armed forces appears to be lacking, affected by the lack of supplies.

However, it is clear that Sanctions are not a puncture-proof shield.

Kim, with the help of satisfied nations, has formed over the years A secret network that allows him to import everything he needs.

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This ability to withstand sanctions is due to the fact that North Korea’s GDP is only $27 billion: therefore, even the ability to import a few tens of millions of dollars in products illegally can make a difference to the system. That only cares about survival and the war machine. That’s the key difference with Russia, which has a $1.5 trillion economy, middle class, and group of the super-rich, and could struggle in the face of tighter bans.

He said this. It is clear that North Korean sanctions are widely violated. The United Nations Supervisory Committee has documented, among other things, the export of at least 200,000 tons of coal from Pyongyang and the import of oil on a fleet of flagged ghost ships of various nationalities.

The latest UN report on abuses includes a Taiwanese shipping company that allegedly helped North Korea import tens of thousands of tons of oil; a network of gambling houses in Cambodia run by the intelligence services of Pyongyang; A plan to open a weapons and drug factory in Uganda. State hacker groups play with bitcoins and money transfers.

You don’t need to be a detective, just look at the pictures posted by North Korean propaganda to find out Kim Jong-un is constantly supplied with so-called Western “luxury products”Strictly prohibited by UN sanctions.

He has it on his wrist Automatic Portofino from IWC Switzerlandworth 12 thousand dollars; It moves on two cars and not at all: one Half a million Mercedes-Maybach S62 one dollar 1.6 million Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman Guards Dollars (with options for the head of state and shields that could have been used even in the US).

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The two limousines debuted in Pyongyang in 2018.

The Stuttgart-based giant Daimler, which controls the Mercedes brand, confirmed that it had not had relations with North Korea for 15 years. Intelligence reconstructed their journey: Cars departed from the port of Rotterdam On June 20, 2018; 41 days of ship transportation, It landed in China, then Japan, South Korea, Russia and finally North Korea. All in four months, using a Togo-flagged shadow ship for the route between South Korea and Russia that was also carrying smuggled (North Korean) coal. Pyongyang’s last jump aboard a North Korean IL-76.

Also according to the United Nations Commission, the secret procurement service of Pyongyang has activated parallel and illegal channels in 90 countries For providing the system with other sanctioned assets, including iPhones, TVs, wine and spirits, buttons, underwear, and even varicose veins stockings.

Shop hundreds of millions of millions around the world. Now that Russia, too, is surrounded by Western sanctions, Kim is believed to be knocking on Putin’s door once again to revitalize trade.

Apr 22, 2022 (change on Apr 22, 2022 | 15:55)

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