By So much for China supposedly getting tough an enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea if this report is true:
A Japanese source familiar with North Korea said leader Kim Jong-il’s penchant for luxury cars continues despite United Nations sanctions and that he is planning to acquire new models this year.
According to Yonhap News, the unnamed source said the North Korean leader has about 500 vehicles and that he bought at least 10 Range Rovers and 20 Mercedes 600s since the adoption of a UN resolution in 2006 banning the shipment of luxury goods to the communist country.
The ban is part of sanctions against the regime for conducting its first nuclear test that year. [Chosun Ilbo]
For those that don’t know, Mercedes Benz is the favorite car of Kim Jong-il. He often gives them as gift to the regime elite and as pictured above are used as patrol cars for internal security agencies.
I think it is pretty clear to everyone that UN sanctions are just a minor inconvenience for the regime. The only sanctions I have seen effect the regime are the financial sanctions from the Treasury Department that are focused solely on the cash flow of the regime elite. Ever since the release of the two US reporters I have heard nothing about the Treasury Department pursuing these sanctions anymore, which is leading me to believe maybe they were scrapped in exchange for the release of the reporters? Likewise why isn’t the US Navy following around North Korean ships anymore and trying to prevent them from docking in other countries? Are these measures no longer being pursued because the North Koreans have decided to behave for now? I guess the coming months will tell.
11:25 am on August 29th, 2009 1
Definitly worth watching. Time will tell. But on the other hand, the North seems more desperate than I've seen them in quite a while. The squeeze is on and its seems to be hurting the North. The south is getting all types of feelers to let bygones be bygones and get on with the food shipments as well as infusions of money that have come to a screeching halt. It seems like the north has run out of benifactors and the south is the only player remaining.
4:59 pm on August 3rd, 2010 2
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