2024-05-22 12:36:41
Regardless of strict worldwide sanctions, many aged Soviet and European automobiles – imported luxurious fashions and native imitations – nonetheless drive on Pyongyang’s broad boulevards. Amongst them are 1973 Volvo 144 sedans, a part of a fleet of 1,000 automobiles despatched to North Korea from Sweden within the mid-Seventies.
North Korea was then residing off the cash of the USSR and the rising economic system led a number of Swedish exporters to put money into North Korea and in 1974 the Swedish authorities agreed to ship over $70 million in heavy equipment and 1,000 Volvo 144s to serve like taxis. A 12 months later, as financial ties between the 2 international locations deepened, Sweden turned the primary Western nation to open an embassy in Pyongyang.
North Korea’s economic system quickly started to stagnate, and though Sweden maintained diplomatic relations with the nation, the automobiles had been by no means paid for. To this point, curiosity and penalties on the delivered automobiles have grown to over $325 million.
Even right this moment, surviving Volvo fashions are used as taxis, and the producer remains to be searching for its cash.