WNAM MONITORING: North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has received a Russian-made car from Russian President Vladimir Putin as a gift demonstrating the special bonds between the two leaders, state media reported Tuesday.
The gift serves as a “clear demonstration of the special personal relations between the two leaders and as the best one,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Russia conveyed the vehicle for Kim’s personal use Sunday to Pak Jong-chon, a secretary of the ruling Worker’s Party of Korea, and Kim Yo-jong, the sister of the North’s leader. She delivered Kim Jong-un’s thanks to Putin to the Russian side, the report said.
The KCNA did not carry photos or reports about the details of the car.
Putin showed his presidential Aurus Senat limousine to Kim in September last year, when the North’s leader visited Russia’s Vostochny spaceport for the summit, and offered him the opportunity to take a seat in the Russian-made luxury vehicle.
It is not immediately known whether the gift was an Aurus Senat limousine.
But Putin’s gift could be in violation of United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions that ban the supply of luxury goods, including automobiles, to North Korea.
Seoul’s unification ministry assessed that Putin’s gift would be a luxury vehicle subject to U.N. sanctions, given that it was a present for the head of state.
