For nearly half a century, the Board has been in charge of the Sisyphean task of coaxing €300m from a nation that thinks international law is an elaborate gambit designed by capitalist pig-dogs. It's been a tradition since 1974, when the government agency was advised to insure Volvo, Atlas Copco, Kockum, and other Swedish companies' exports to an entirely new buyer: Supreme Leader Kim Il-sung. Part of the reason is to be found in the Supreme Leader's national balance sheet, where a strange external debt has quietly ballooned to the size of a small hedge fund.Įach fiscal year, the Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board calculates interest on a single debt that accounts for more than half of all its political claims. The announcement is another indicator of North Korea's presence on international businessmen's radars, where it has been visible since American investor Jim Rogers delivered the presentation "Why Invest in North Korea" at the Asian Leadership Conference in March.īut those who fear that dreams of tourism and economic expansion will cloud the region's crippling social issues may be pleased to know that many investors will think twice about committing capital under the Kim regime.
With these incidents already on record, few things should surprise the outside world – but in July, the North Korean administration once again drew gasps from human rights organisations when it announced that its severely impoverished population would soon witness the construction of a grand national project: a new "tourist city" in Wonsan, complete with an underwater hotel and villa district.
To say that incumbent Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has carried on papa Jong-il's legacy of insularity and geopolitical horseplay would be an understatement: the 31-year-old has been at the helm for less than three years, but he has already galvanised international media with "preemptive" nuclear strike plans, the surprise execution of his own uncle, and a burgeoning bromance with former NBA star Dennis Rodman. Judging by emerging tourist footage and rogue documentaries, it may also be an unexpected testament to the durability of Swedish engineering. It is a story that is just as strange as it sounds – and, in 2014, it shows how North Korea's grand aspirations and increasingly bellicose rhetoric may founder on a chronic inability to assess its own financial ability. Each time the administration misses a payment, as it has done every year for the past 40 years, we are reminded of one of the most unexpected political twists of the last century: Kim Il-sung scamming Sweden out of 1,000 Volvo 144 sedans. North Korea's foremost trade debt to the western world is bizarre even by North Korean standards.
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