A report from the Washington-based Center for Advanced Defense Studies has uncovered North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's successful and complex scheme to import two bulletproof Mercedes armored vehicles worth about $500,000 each into the country: use of three cargo jets, a trek through six countries, and a Russian ghost ship.
The report tracked two armored Mercedes-Maybach S600 Guard vehicles shipped to Kim. Two containers with Mercedes-Benz sedans were loaded onto a ship June 14, 2018 in the Netherlands. They arrived in Dalian, China, on July 31 and departed to Osaka, Japan, on Aug. 26, due for a Sept. 18 delivery.
They departed Osaka and arrived in Busan, South Korea, three days later, Sept. 27. The ship left Busan for a destination in Russia, but the tracking monitor was turned off for 18 days. The same ship headed back to Busan with anthracite coal on board Oct. 19.
During the radio silence, three North Korean heavy lift cargo jets made an Oct. 7 flight to Vladivostok, Russia.
The vehicles ended up in North Korea, where Kim has been seen chauffeured in what is believed to be a Mercedes-Maybach Pullman Guard armored limo. Kim was also spotted with a Rolls Royce last year.
Companies and individuals are banned from selling luxury goods to North Korea because of sanctions passed by the United Nations as punishment for Pyongyang's nuclear weapons development.
C4ADS found North Korea violated the UN sanctions and imported at least $191 million worth of luxury goods from 2015 to 2017, sourced from "as many as 90 countries."
Daimler, the company that owns Mercedes, in a statement said it had "no indication on how the mentioned vehicles were delivered and where they come from."
"Our company has had no business connections with North Korea for far more than 15 years now and strictly complies with EU and US embargoes," the company said in a statement to CNN. "To prevent deliveries to North Korea and to any of its embassies worldwide, Daimler has implemented a comprehensive export control process, which we consider appropriate and effective, and which meets all requirements of the export control authorities."
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