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The Guardian

Dutch customs at the port of Rotterdam have seized 90,000 bottles of vodka believed to be destined for the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his army chiefs.
The haul would have been breached sanctions placed on the state.
The discovery, on the eve of Kim’s two-day summit with US President Donald Trump in Hanoi, was made after Dutch authorities flagged the suspicious route and records of a Chinese-owned container ship, Nebula.
Initial investigations heightened suspicions that the haul was going to be taken to Pyongyang, Dutch authorities said.

The Russian vodka, contained in 3,000 boxes, had been recorded as being due for unloading in China, via the ports of Hamburg and Rotterdam.
When officers sought to retrieve the container from the ship’s hull, it was found to be concealed and hemmed in by the fuselage of an aircraft also due to be exported to China. Despite concerns about damaging the aircraft, the Dutch ministry of affairs ordered the container’s removal.
Trump-Kim talks are likely only to freeze Pyongyang’s nuclear progress
Arno Kooij, the customs officer in charge of the seizure, declined to comment on what had alerted his systems to the container ship.
“We do not want to make anyone wiser than necessary,” he told the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad.

“What I can say: based on the information we had, we suspected that this container would fall under the sanctions regime for North Korea. We suspected that this vodka would not go to China, but to North Korea.”
Vietnam’s red carpet for Trump and Kim takes lead from Singapore
Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch minister for trade who ordered the seizure, said: “The Security Council of the United Nations has imposed clear sanctions on North Korea, so it is important to enforce those sanctions. The sanctions also govern the import of luxury goods and so customs was completely justified in unloading that container.”


Kim, who was educated in Switzerland, is known to have a taste for the high life. Last year it was claimed he had has spent more than US$4 billion on importing luxury products from China since taking power in 2011.
His family is said to have imported a seaplane, musical instruments, watches and furs, with luxury items accounting for 17.8 per cent of North Korea’s total imports from China in 2017, according to a South Korean analysis.


Kim arrived in Hanoi in his armoured train on Tuesday, ahead of his second meeting with Trump. He had travelled for two and a half days, covering 4500km (2,800 miles), although his precise route has not been disclosed.
The meeting comes eight months after a summit in Singapore, the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader, which failed to produce concrete results on a path to denuclearisation.


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North Korea

Dutch customs seize 90,000 bottles of vodka from Chinese-owned ship believed to be bound for North Korea

epa07397807 North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) arrives in Dong Dang ahead the second US-North Korea summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, 26 February 2019. The second meeting of the US President and the North Korean leader, running from 27 to 28 February 2019, focuses on furthering steps towards achieving peace and complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. EPA-EFE/WALLACE WOON

epa07398395 An officer of the customs authorities in the port of Rotterdam presents a box with bottles of vodka, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 26 February 2019, after a container with 90,000 bottles of the alcohol was intercepted by the authorities. Media in The Netherlands report that the cargo was likely destined for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his military command. The containers reportedly were found hidden in an aircraft's hull aboard a cargo ship on 22 February after a custom's computer system sounded an alarm in the course of analyzing transport and cargo data. EPA-EFE/ROBIN UTRECHT

A customs official displays a container with 90,000 bottles of vodka intercepted at the port of Rotterdam. Photo: AFP

Trump-Kim summit 2019: Donald Trump lands in Hanoi, but experts say talks will likely only freeze Pyongyang’s nuclear progress, not dismantle it

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un gets in a car after visiting the North Korean Embassy in Hanoi on Feb. 26, 2019, a day before the start of his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

A car carrying North Korean leader Kim Jong Un passes Hanoi Opera House in the Vietnamese capital on Feb. 26, 2019, a day before his planned second meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Kim's train journey to Vietnam

US President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One after arriving at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam on Tuesday for a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: AFP

US and North Korea must end state of war

US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un meet at their first summit in Singapore last year. Photo: AP

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Women pictured at the Vietnam-North Korea Friendship kindergarten in Hanoi. Photo: Reuters

Trump-Kim summit 2019: North Korean leader arrives in Hanoi before two days of meetings

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrives at the Dong Dang railway station in Vietnam at the border with China. Photo: Reuters

News

Asia

East Asia

The vodka, contained in 3,000 boxes, was recorded as going to China, but Dutch authorities had suspicions it was on its way to the Kim regime


The alcohol was recorded as going to China, but Dutch authorities suspected it was a haul meant for Kim Jong-un and his generals.


North Korea sanctions

The Netherlands

Crime

Dutch customs seize 90,000 bottles of vodka from Chinese-owned ship believed to be bound for North Korea

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The vodka, contained in 3,000 boxes, was recorded as going to China, but Dutch authorities had suspicions it was on its way to the Kim regime

The vodka, contained in 3,000 boxes, was recorded as going to China, but Dutch authorities had suspicions it was on its way to the Kim regime