North Korea’s annual expenditure on missile provocations and Kim Jong-un and his family’s luxurious living could provide enough funding to feed its citizens for three years, according to estimates.
“Last year alone, North Korea spent up to $5 million (about 6.8 billion won) for the country to launch a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) and up to $30 million (about 41 billion won) for an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),” a military intelligence source said on Apr. 25. Pyonyang spent between 830 million (about $638 million) and 1.3 billion (about $946 million) won on missile launches. They turned their eye on short-range ballistic missile provocations, estimated to have cost about 117 billion won (about $85,103,287) as of Apr. 25.
The Kim family reportedly spent 830 billion won on luxury goods in the same period, according to the Ministry of National Defense and the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses.
During his visit to a munitions factory, Kim Jong-un was seen wearing a coat from the Italian luxury brand Balenciaga, which was priced at around 20 million won (about $14,545). His daughter, Kim Ju-ae, also appeared in a Dior jacket valued at 2.5 million won (about $1,818) in March. In December of the previous year, Kim was spotted exiting a Mercedes-Benz Maybach car valued at more than 300 million won ($220,000). “The annual living expenses of the Kim family will be enough to cover the food shortage of North Koreans for a year through imports,” a Defense Ministry official said.
