Name: How Kim Jong-un Gets His $500,000 Mercedes | Visual Investigations
Uploaded: 2019-07-18T05:43:39.000Z
Duration: 5 min 12 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

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

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:

But how did Kim manage to get these luxury, bulletproof

vehicles — in open violation of an international ban

on luxury goods — to North North Korea?

we teamed up with the non-profit research group

which published a detailed report on sanctions evasions.

we investigated a shipment of two bulletproof Mercedes.

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

similar techniques to procure far more dangerous goods.

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

in a shipping terminal in Rotterdam in June 2018.

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

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.

From here, the cars are shipped to Japan,

and from there they are sent in yet another ship

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,

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

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

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

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.

Using that many jurisdictions is a classic sanctions evasion strategy.

was trailing the cargo as soon as it entered China.

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

But the handoff happens weeks later in South Korea.

First, the ship's last reported destination

We think the cars were offloaded in this area.

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

And he confirmed that he bought and sold the Mercedes

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

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.

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

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

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?