An extraordinary sum of 644 million USD from North Korea¡¯s coffers has been used to purchase exorbitant luxury goods, according to a South Korean lawmaker.

These findings are based on a list of goods that are restricted from being sent to North Korea by Seoul as they are deemed luxury items, said ruling Saenuri Party¡¯s Yoon Sang Hyun, a member of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, on Tuesday. The numbers were amassed using customs¡¯ records between the North and China, as well as reports on Pyongyang¡¯s foreign trade trends.

According to data from Yoon, some of the goods that have seen an increase in imports are alcohol, watches, bags, cosmetics, gems, and carpet. ¡°The spike appears to come from growing supplies to department stores and markets to cater to the privileged upper-class, as well as to hand out gifts to appease party and military officials key to supporting the leadership,¡± the lawmaker said.

He added, ¡°Dogs are not on the list for luxury items, but some dozens of purebred dogs such as Shi Tzus and Shepherd breeds from Europe have been brought into the country along with pet care products. This has totaled to an annual 200,000 USD just on pets.¡±

¡°With this money spent on luxury goods, North Korea could have bought more than 3.6 million tons of corn [176 USD/ton] and 1.5 million tons of rice [425 USD/ton],¡± Yoon said, emphasizing, ¡°It would have been more than enough to make up for the 340,000-ton food shortage for the grain year 2013-2014 estimated by the UN¡¯s Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] and World Food Programme [WFP].¡±

The lawmaker added the money allocated to such goods during Kim Jong Eun¡¯s leadership has doubled from his father¡¯s expendites, which stood at roughly 300 million USD per year.