Kim has used Daimler's limousines several times during his recent summit meetings, including a luxury car at the Thursday's Vladimir Putin talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and used it earlier in his talks with US President Donald Trump.
This has raised questions for many, given that the sale of luxury goods, such as luxury cars, is also banned by UN sanctions against North Korea, which the World Organization wants to force Pyongy to end its nuclear program.
However, Kim was waiting for two limousines at the Vladimirostok railway station: a Mercedes Maybach S600 Pullman Guard and a Mercedes Maybach S62. Kim probably used the former car when he talked to Trump in Singapore last June and then in Hanoi in February this year.
"We have no idea how these cars came to North Korea," Silke Mockert, spokesman for the German car factory, said in a statement to the AP news agency. He stressed that for Daimler, in the responsible entrepreneurial activity, it is a fundamental principle that the law is adhered to when conducting export.
"Our company has no business relationship with North Korea for more than 15 years, and the company strictly adheres to the EU and US embargo," the spokesman said. Daimler has put in place a comprehensive export control procedure to prevent shipments to North Korea or to any of the foreign embassies of Pyongyang, but this does not apply to cars that are used particularly through resellers.
The AP notes that the fact that Kim can access such limousines is a good indication of how cumbersome the penalty system is.
(Source: vezess.hu / photo: pixabay.com)