Dior can't confirm authenticity of handbag of Kim Jong-un's sister

French luxury brand Christian Dior told a United Nations panel of experts that it cannot confirm whether a bag photographed on the arm of regime leader Kim Jong-un's sister is a genuine Lady Dior bag.

In this photo released by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on Sept. 16, 2023, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Kim Yo-jong, far right, is seen holding what appears to be quilted black Lady Dior bag during her brother's visit the day before to the Yuri Gargarin aircraft factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia. [YONHAP]

French luxury brand Christian Dior told a United Nations panel of experts that it cannot confirm whether a bag photographed on the arm of regime leader Kim Jong-un's sister is a genuine Lady Dior bag.

According to a report released on Thursday by the panel of experts under the UN Security Council Committee on North Korea, representatives of the luxury label said that the bag sported by Kim Yo-jong bears a “strong” resemblance to the brand’s large-sized model of the Sac Lady Dior in quilted matte black calfskin, which is priced at 6,200 euros ($6,670) on Dior's official website.

Exports of luxury goods to North Korea have been banned since the Security Council passed Resolution 1718 in 2006.

In its report, which examines North Korean sanctions violations from July 2023 to January, the panel of experts said it reached out to Dior on Oct. 16 last year, around a month after photos released by Pyongyang’s state-controlled media showed Kim carrying the bag during her brother’s visit to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

While Dior acknowledged in its communications that the bag could very well be a genuine product manufactured by the brand, it also told the panel that it was “difficult” to confirm this through only photos.

Dior also noted that the quilted black iteration of the Lady Dior bag has been part of the brand’s permanent collection since it launched in February 2019 and is available for purchase worldwide.

The brand said that while it complies with sanctions banning the sale of luxury goods to Pyongyang, it has no knowledge of how the North Korean leader’s sister obtained her bag, adding that it cannot control the resale of its products.

Kim’s bag is one of several apparent luxury goods appearing in photographs of the North Korean regime’s leadership.

In January, North Korean state media aired footage of Kim Jong-un riding a previously unseen Mercedes-Benz Maybach GLS 600 sport utility vehicle, which was first released by the German automaker in 2019.

His daughter Kim Ju-ae, whom South Korean intelligence officials believe is 11 years old, has been photographed wearing a variety of luxury jackets in state media appearances, including a Dior hooded down jacket worth $1,900 at a missile launch in March last year.

Pyongyang’s foreign minister, Choe Son-hui, was photographed carrying a $10,000 ostrich-leather handbag by Italian luxury brand Gucci during the North Korean leader’s visit to Russia.

According to the report by the UN’s panel of experts, the North’s malicious cyberactivities “generate approximately 50 percent of its foreign currency income,” and that 40 percent of its financing for weapons of mass destruction is obtained by “illicit cybermeans.”

The panel’s report said it is investigating the North’s potential involvement in 17 cryptocurrency heists last year in which a total of $750 million was stolen, as well as the regime’s suspected role in 58 attacks on cryptocurrency-related companies from 2017 and 2023 that resulted in losses totaling $3 billion.

The panel, which currently reports twice a year on North Korean sanctions violations, is subject to a Security Council vote on the extension of its mandate on Friday in New York.

It remains to be seen if the panel’s work will be able to continue given heightened tensions and disagreements among the council’s five permanent veto-wielding members.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]