(Seoul) Russian President Vladimir Putin gave North Korean leader Kim Jong-un a Russian-made car for his personal use in recognition of their special relationship, North Korean state media reported Tuesday. Koreans.
The type of vehicle and how it was shipped were not specified. But observers said it could violate a United Nations (UN) resolution banning the export of luxury items to North Korea, a move aimed at getting that country to abandon all its existing export programs. weapons of mass destruction.
Kim Jong-un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, and another North Korean official accepted the gift on Sunday and conveyed the leader’s thanks to Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s state news agency reported . Kim Yo Jong said the gift showed the unique personal relationship between the leaders, according to the report.
North Korea and Russia have significantly strengthened cooperation since Kim Jong-un visited Russia last September for a summit with Vladimir Putin. During the visit to Russia’s main spaceport, Mr. Putin showed his personal Anrus Senat limousine to the North Korean leader, while the latter sat in the back seat.
According to the Russian news agency Tass, Aurus was Russia’s first luxury car brand and has been used in motorcades of senior officials, including Mr. Putin, since he first used a luxury limousine. this brand during its inauguration ceremony in 2018.
Kim Jong-un, 40, is known to own numerous foreign-made luxury cars that were allegedly smuggled into his country in violation of the UN resolution. During his visit to Russia, he traveled from meeting to meeting in a Maybach limousine that he had brought with him in one of his special wagons.
During a previous trip to Russia in 2019, the executive had two limousines waiting for him at Vladivostok train station: a Mercedes Maybach S600 Pullman Guard and a Mercedes Maybach S62. He also reportedly used the S600 Pullman Guard for his two summits with then US President Donald Trump in Singapore in 2018 and Vietnam in 2019. In 2018, Kim Jong-un used a black Mercedes limousine to return home him after a meeting with then South Korean President Moon Jae in a border village.
The fact that this leader owns such expensive foreign limousines shows the porosity of international sanctions against the country. Russia voted to ban the supply of luxury goods to North Korea, although as a permanent member of the Security Council it could have vetoed the resolution.
The growing ties between North Korea and Russia come as they are engaged in separate confrontations with the United States and its allies – North Korea over its advanced nuclear program and Russia over its protracted war with Ukraine.
The United States, South Korea and their partners accuse North Korea of sending conventional weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, in exchange for high-tech Russian weapons technology and other support.
After the foreign minister returned home following a visit to Russia in January, North Korean state media reported that Vladimir Putin expressed his willingness to visit North Korea as soon as possible.