Limoousine Making Company Aurus Putin Prize To Kim Jong-un Uses Share Part South Korea

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un/DOK Russian Presidential Press and Information Office/Gavril Grigorov/TASS

JAKARTA - With a laugh and joke, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un toured Pyongyang last week with Russian-made Aurus limousines to show the strengthening of their anti-Western alliance.

This luxury sedan is intended to symbolize Russia's domestic greatness and reduce its dependence on technology and imported goods.

However, customs records show the company that produces it, using millions of dollars worth of imported parts with many arriving in Russia from South Korea, North Korea's main enemy.

The imports showed Russia's continued dependence on Western technology as Russia seeks to direct Western efforts to break the global supply chain as a punishment for their invasion of Ukraine.

The two leaders took turns driving an armored limousine during Putin's splendor visit, his first visit in nearly a quarter of a century to North Korea, which shows the close relationship between the two nuclear powers.

Russia imports equipment and components worth at least 34 million US dollars between 2018 and 2023 to assemble Aurus cars and motorcycles, according to customs records seen by Reuters.

The imports include parts of the car body, sensors, programmable controllers, switches, welding equipment, and other components worth nearly 15.5 million US dollars imported from South Korea. The spare parts were also imported from China, India, Turkey, Italy, and other EU countries.

Foreign supplies to Aurus continued to arrive following Russia's massive invasion of Ukraine, with nearly US$16 million worth of goods, including US$5 million produced in South Korea, imported since February 2022, according to records.

Reuters was unable to specifically determine which foreign imported components were put into the car presented to Kim, and the imports did not violate sanctions related to US sanctions in February 2024 to Aurus.