Two Mercedes-Benz limousines, spotted at a North Korean military parade, could constitute another breach of United Nations sanctions.

The limousines appeared on a broadcast by the North Korean state media on July 27, surrounded by marching troops and carrying large bannders of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il.

“I believe these are Mercedes S600 armoured limos,” said Cedric Lacroix, an expert at Limousinesworld.com, a company specializing in custom limousines.

According to Mr Lacroix, a new S600 armoured limo can cost from ￡350,000 to ￡1.2 million depending on the level of the armoring.

However, the limousines shown on North Korean television were much longer than the standard S600, suggesting they may have been customized.

Rob Halloway, communication director at Mercedes-Benz UK, said they could not confirm if the limousine in the pictures were S600s because of their low resolution, and stressed that Mercedes-Benz did not export the vehicles to North Korea.

“If the images are of Mercedes-Benz-based cars they were not supplied into the country by our company,” he said.

The export of the cars would constitute a breach of sanctions by the UN, the European Union and the United States, all of which specifically ban luxury vehicles being sold to North Korea.

A more serious barrier to enforcing the ban on luxury goods is the possibility the limousines could have been routed through intermediaries in China or Russia.

Currently China and Russia have no luxury goods lists, which makes it possible for North Korean intermediaries to purchase and export luxury items to DPRK.

While Mercedes-Benz re-sellers in China and Russia cannot sell directly to North Korea, they are authorized to sell to non-North Korean buyers. And these intermediaries can then use the lack of an enforced luxury goods list to move items across the border.

SOURCE: THE TELEGRAPH