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  • Kim Jong-un is becoming a more prominent figure on the world stage.

  • He now frequently leaves North Korea

  • and welcomes top officials in Pyongyang.

  • And when looking at the dictator's high-profile public appearances,

  • it would be difficult not to notice that they all share something in common:

  • Mercedes.

  • Mercedes.

  • Rolls-Royce and more Mercedes.

  • But how did Kim manage to get these luxury, bulletproof

  • vehiclesin open violation of an international ban

  • on luxury goodsto North North Korea?

  • To answer this question,

  • we teamed up with the non-profit research group

  • Center for Advanced Defense Studies,

  • which published a detailed report on sanctions evasions.

  • Using shipping and corporate data,

  • satellite images and interviews,

  • we investigated a shipment of two bulletproof Mercedes.

  • These vehicles cost at least $500,000

  • and are primarily marketed to world leaders.

  • We followed them through a circuitous network of ports,

  • apparently designed to cloak their movement,

  • and onto a ghost ship owned by a Russian businessman

  • whose company has been accused of evading sanctions.

  • Our story offers a glimpse into how North Korea skirts

  • sanctions and how it likely uses

  • similar techniques to procure far more dangerous goods.

  • So first, let's take a look at the actual route.

  • And the trail starts:

  • in a shipping terminal in Rotterdam in June 2018.

  • The first part of the journey looks like a regular shipment.

  • Nothing out of the ordinary.

  • The cars are on two of the containers on this ship.

  • From here, they're transported on a major international shipping line.

  • After a 41 day journey, the cars arrive in China.

  • We track them to the port of Dalian.

  • From here, the cars are shipped to Japan,

  • and from there they are sent in yet another ship

  • to another port in Busan, South Korea.

  • And here, the Russian-owned ship at the center of our investigation enters the picture.

  • It picks up the containers and when it leaves the port, mysteriously vanishes,

  • turning off its required transponder.

  • Eighteen days later, the ship reappears,

  • but now the cars are gone.

  • And instead, it's carrying coal.

  • So, what just happened?

  • Let's take a closer look at this ghost ship.

  • Its convoluted background offers clues

  • as to why it was not at all a regular transport.

  • It used to be called Xiang Jin and had links to North Korea.

  • But shortly before it gets the cars,

  • its name changes to DN5505

  • and its ownership is transferred

  • to Do Young Shipping, a shell company in the Marshall Islands.

  • It's Do Young Shipping that's owned by the Russian national.

  • But you'd never know it because it sails under the flag of the West African nation Togo.

  • And its safety manager is based in Hong Kong.

  • Confused? That's the idea.

  • Using that many jurisdictions is a classic sanctions evasion strategy.

  • Our reporting also shows that this ship

  • was trailing the cargo as soon as it entered China.

  • Do you see it?

  • It's right here.

  • Satellite images we found suggest

  • that it tried to pick up the cars at other ports in Asia.

  • But the handoff happens weeks later in South Korea.

  • So where did the containers go?

  • Vladivostok, Russia.

  • And here is why we think that:

  • First, the ship's last reported destination

  • before the transponder was turned off

  • was a coal port next to Vladivostok.

  • We think the cars were offloaded in this area.

  • Second, the owner of the Russian ghost ship is based in Vladivostok.

  • His name is Danil Kazachuk.

  • And he confirmed that he bought and sold the Mercedes

  • in a phone call to a Times reporter, but offered no further details.

  • Four months after the cars disappeared,

  • South Korean officials seized

  • two of Kazachuk's ships, including the ghost ship,

  • for alleged illicit trade of coal and oil with North Korea.

  • Third, we tracked these North Korean transport planes,

  • which made a rare visit to Vladivostok on Oct. 7 — perfectly timed with the arrival of the containers.

  • They are the very planes that normally carry Kim's

  • luxury vehicles and a possible direct transportation link to North Korea.

  • Our final clue: In January 2019,

  • the same exact model of armored Mercedes

  • was spotted on the streets of Pyongyang by the website North Korea News.

  • The route to Asia.

  • The ghost ship in Busan.

  • The North Korean planes.

  • It's not possible to say if every part of this journey was illicit.

  • But since 2016, sanctions experts

  • say that North Korea has used similar techniques

  • to bring in vital fuel sources and technology for its weapons program.

  • Which raises the question: How effective are sanctions as a tool to pressure Kim Jong-un to end his nuclear ambitions?

Kim Jong-un is becoming a more prominent figure on the world stage.

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