North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-un visited food-ravaged communities in North Korea from the comfort of his sanctioned luxury vehicle.
The northwestern province of North Phyongan was recently hit by devastating floods that left thousands of residents homeless and many dead and injured, with South Korea media claiming the floods death toll could be more than 1,000.
Kim Jong-un took the floods as an opportunity to launch a propaganda campaign singing his praises, with reports of trucks blasting out praise for the “Great Leader” in flood-affected regions, as well as in unaffected parts of the country.
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Adding insult to injury, a new model Mercedes Benz SUV was spotted on board an armoured train used by the tubby despot to visit flood-affected parts of the Uiju County.
(Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)
The SUV appears to be the top model of the Mercedes-Maybach GLS 600 4MATIC which was launched in April in South Korea, reports Korea Times. The car comes with a price tag starting from 279 million won (£160,100).
The car is at least Kim’s second high-end Mercedes, as the luxury-car fiend was spotted in a Maybach GLS 600 in January.
The dictator is also known to have a fifth-generation Cadillac Escalade, a Rolls Royce phantom and armoured Lexuses in his car collection.
(Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)
The cars demonstrate the dictator’s ability to swerve international sanctions on luxury imported goods to North Korea.
The ban was imposed on North Korea in 2006 in response to the nation’s nuclear weapons programme.
The Independent reports that 90 countries were the source of luxury goods entering North Korea from 2015 to 2017, which are smuggled in via port transfers, secret high-seas shipping and showy front companies. Vladimir Putin gave Kim Jong-un two cars this year, as ties between the two countries strengthen.
(Image: KCNA VIA KNS/AFP via Getty Image)
Kim’s cars also conflict with the North Korean government’s ban on foreign influence, which covers music, art, news and films.
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