NK News "Convoy of Vehicles Visiting Kim Il Sung Military University... Appears to Include Bodyguards"
Foreign media reported that a new Toyota sports utility vehicle (SUV) was spotted among the motorcade of Kim Jong-un, Chairman of the State Affairs Commission of North Korea.
On the 26th (local time), the U.S.-based North Korea specialist media NK News analyzed footage aired the previous day on North Korea's Korean Central TV showing Kim Jong-un's visit to Kim Il-sung Military University and reported that a Toyota Land Cruiser 300 was present. It accounted for 6 out of the total 18 vehicles in the motorcade, with the brand logo removed and emergency lights attached.
North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un made a congratulatory visit to Kim Il-sung Military University on the 92nd anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army on the 25th, according to Korean Central TV on the 26th. The Aurus vehicle (center) carrying Chairman Kim is heading to the university escorted by security vehicles that appear to be new Toyota Land Cruisers. [Photo by Korean Central TV / Yonhap News]
The media explained that this is the latest evidence that North Korea is circumventing UN sanctions prohibiting the transfer of transportation means to North Korea since 2017.
The Land Cruiser is part of Toyota's J300 series produced since 2021, with a price starting at $80,000 (approximately 110 million KRW) per unit.
NK News analyzed that North Korea deployed Toyota vehicles to transport security personnel when Kim Jong-un visited Kim Il-sung Military University to celebrate the 92nd anniversary of the founding of the Korean People's Revolutionary Army.
They also reported that among Kim Jong-un's motorcade were two German Mercedes-Benz Maybach GLS 600 SUVs, two Lexus LX SUVs, two American Ford Transit vans, and five older Mercedes sedans.
North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un (left) and Russian President Vladimir Putin are shaking hands during a summit held in Russia last September. [Photo by Yonhap News]
Earlier, in February, Kim Jong-un received a luxury Aurus vehicle, known as the "Russian Rolls-Royce," as a gift from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Kim attended the completion ceremony of the second phase of the Yang Hwaseong District housing complex on the 16th, riding this car and personally cutting the completion tape.
NK News stated that it is unclear how North Korea imported foreign vehicles, but Kim Jong-un’s use of them demonstrates that large items can be imported by evading sanctions. They also explained that this implies that weapons and related production equipment could be imported in the same way.
Meanwhile, North Korea expressed wariness over the United States seeking alternatives to monitor sanctions enforcement against North Korea following the conclusion of the expert panel activities under the UN Security Council’s North Korea Sanctions Committee.
Kim Eun-chol, North Korea’s Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of the U.S., said in a statement released on the 25th by the Korean Central News Agency, "As the illegal entity that has been engaged in monitoring the implementation of UN sanctions against the DPRK for over ten years faces extinction, the United States is desperately trying to fill the gap in the broken sanctions pressure structure."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
