North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently switched his private car to the German luxury brand Maybach.
According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Jong-un attended the 5th National Conference of Mothers starting from Dec. 3.
The video clip shows Kim arriving at the Pyongyang Gymnasium in a private car, where attendees were waiting.
The rear door of his private car was stamped with a Maybach mark, a luxury brand of German carmaker Mercedes-Benz. On the trunk, the letters S650 were clearly visible. The car is believed to be a new Mercedes-Benz Maybach from 2019. The base price without options is $239193 (315.4 million won).
Kim has used Maybachs before. In September, Kim Jong-un arrived by his private train at a station near the Vostochny Cosmodrome, where the North Korea-Russia summit was held, and drove to the meeting venue in a Maybach car brought from North Korea.
At that time, there were no Maybach markings on the back of the car’s tailgate, and the S650 was not labeled on the trunk. The car appears to have been replaced in the last month or two.
The Mercedes-Benz Maybach is subject to a UN Security Council embargo on exports to North Korea. In December 2017, the Security Council unanimously adopted UN Security Council Resolution 2397, which bans the export of transportation to North Korea.
Nevertheless, Kim Jong-un has previously used the Maybach as his personal vehicle. In 2019, two Maybachs were estimated to have traveled through five countries to reach Pyongyang over a four-month period from June to October 2018, according to tracking by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies.
This article was originally published on Dec. 11, 2023.
