It has been revealed that North Korea purchased 600 bottles of top quality wine from French producer Maison Michel Picard in July this year, just the latest in a long list of luxury food and wine purchases by the Kim regime dating back to the March of Tribulation.
The daughter of company owner Michel Picard, Francine Picard revealed the news in a presentation for journalists at Seoul Finance Center today, saying, “On average, we do approximately one transaction with North Korea per year, and while the quantity is small, we maintain a good relationship with them.”
“This July too, a North Korean government representative bought 600 bottles of high end wine including Chassagne-Montrachet and Échezeaux Grand Cru,” Picard explained, adding, “These wines sell for between 310,000 and 400,000 won in Europe.”
Specifically, it was Maison Michel Picard’s “Cote de Nuits-Villages” with which Kim Jong Il offered a toast at a banquet during the October 2007 summit with former President Roh Moo Hyun in Pyongyang, an event which Picard said had a big impact on the wine producer.
“When Kim Jong Il offered a toast with our wine at the 2007 Inter-Korean Summit, we were flooded with so many calls that we couldn’t work properly,” Picard said, adding, however, “That kind of thing is just an event; letting many different people enjoy Picard wine is our mission.”
North Korea’s relationship with the company began 15 years ago when an official from the North Korean Mission (of UNESCO) in Paris took a tour of one of the company’s wineries and, after tasting the product, bought 12 bottles of 15 of the company’s wines.
However, it is unclear whether the French government is aware of the export of luxury wines to North Korea, a trade that is in probable violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1718, which expressly forbids the export of “luxury goods” by any UN member state to North Korea.
