North Korea Is the Culprit of the Largest Car Theft in History

North Korea is the culprit of the largest car theft in history when it ordered 1,000 Volvo vehicles from Sweden in the 1970’s and never paid.

At the time and as a response to its emerging economy, the hermit nation ordered the Volvo 114s, regarded at the time as one of the safest and strongest cars in the world. Such was their reputation that they were dubbed “tanks.”

The cars were shipped and delivered but North Korea just didn’t bother paying and ignored the invoice. To this day, the bill remains unpaid, prompting Soviet diplomats to call it the “largest car theft in human history”.

North Korea’s debt to Sweden has grown over the years to a massive $322 million. Sweden still sends twice-yearly reminders to Pyongyang, but North Korea has never upheld its end of the agreement.

And to this day, no car manufacturer has dared to provide any new cars to them because of this incident.

The story of North Korea’s largest car theft

In the 1970s, Sweden began to see North Korea as a lucrative market. North Korea was rapidly industrializing, mainly with Soviet money.

Swedish companies like Volvo, ASEA, Kockums, Atlas Copco, and Alfa Laval wanted to export their products to the country and held an industrial exhibition in Pyongyang.

Sweden became the first Western country to set up an embassy in North Korea. When the economic situation in the country deteriorated, Sweden realized that Pyongyang would pay nothing.

These Volvos were a common sighting in Pyongyang until the 2010s. They have since become increasingly difficult to maintain, but they are still on the road. Many are used as taxis.

With a population of over 25 million people, North Korea has only around 30,000 vehicles on the road. Most are military vehicles and cheap copies of Western models, but the Volvo 114s are still spotted in the capital Pyongyang.

How does North Korea maintain these ancient cars?

There is still a mystery of how the North Koreans maintain these ancient cars. Theories include the possibility that the original deal with Sweden included a provision for a massive amount of spare parts.

Other theories say that spare parts are smuggled into the country or that maybe North Korea managed to replicate the parts of the cars in its small copycat industry.

Volvo was not affected by the North Korean theft because the sale of the cars was insured by the Swedish Export Credit Agency (EKN). When North Korea failed to pay it was the Swedish taxpayers that were left to foot the bill.

Related: Greek Journalist Who Lived in North Korea Tells Her Story in New Book