There are calls for the South Korean government to use the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in the U.S. next month as a diplomatic war against European nations to block Kim Jong Un’s gift politics. The idea is to seize the opportunity of heightened European vigilance against North Korea to strengthen sanctions against the country.
An anonymous diplomatic source said, “With the possibility of North Korea’s deployment to the Ukraine war as part of North Korea-Russia military cooperation, there is a growing sentiment that North Korea is becoming the major concern for European countries closely related to the Ukraine crisis.” The source further noted that the conditions to take more proactive measures against North Korea are being created for European countries, whose security threats have increased due to North Korea’s potential deployment and expanded arms trade with Russia. The NATO summit will be held from the 9th to the 11th of next month. NATO has officially invited the Asia-Pacific partners’ (AP4) leaders, including South Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, to the meeting. There is also speculation that President Yoon Suk Yeol might attend. Yoon attended NATO summits in Spain in June 2022 and Lithuania in July of the same year.
At last year’s NATO allied and partner countries summit, Yoon highlighted the need for a joint response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats. NATO condemned North Korea’s nuclear and missile activities for the first time in five years in a joint statement at the summit. The conditions are well settled to draw consensus on strengthening pressure against North Korea on the diplomatic stage of the NATO summit.
Kim has enhanced his ruling power by gifting expensive foreign luxury goods to his executives. According to an analysis by the South Korean Ministry of National Defense and the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), the funds for ruling the privileged class of about 65,000 people within North Korea’s party, cabinet, and military amount to approximately $2.1 billion annually.
In addition to Kim, high-ranking officials such as Premier Kim Tok Hun and Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly Choe Ryong Hae have been seen driving imported luxury vehicles like Mercedes, which they received as gifts. This is a typical scene showing one aspect of gift politics.
The UN Security Council prohibits the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of luxury goods to North Korea under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718. However, luxury goods entering North Korea via shadowy routes such as the patronage of China and Russia, double trading in Southeast Asia, and illegal trading, are not completely controlled.
North Korea seems to strongly prefer European luxury goods, possibly influenced by Kim’s experience studying in Europe.
A yacht believed to be produced by the British company Princess, owned by Kim, is valued at approximately $7.8 million, and his daughter Ju Ae has appeared in public wearing clothing from French luxury brand Christian Dior. Kim’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, and Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui have each been seen in public carrying European luxury brands’ bags such as Dior and Gucci.
This not only reveals the taste of the North Korean regime but also shows that North Korea makes every effort to evade U.N. sanctions against North Korea. It also seems to be a propaganda strategy to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of sanctions to the international community.
On the other hand, it can be analyzed that in the case of blocking Kim’s gift politics route, there would be a negative impact on the internal government.
Above all, it seems necessary to use the upcoming NATO summit as a stage to heighten the awareness of member countries to block the influx of luxury goods into North Korea, which would enhance the effect of sanctions on the executives who are maintaining the North Korean regime.
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