By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Meeting the U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, it was unsurprising that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un wanted to make a good impression.
Footage shows the North Korean leader walking to shake Pompeo's hand after emerging from what appears to be a Rolls-Royce.
Perceptive viewers noticed the logo of the luxury car maker on the vehicle's rim, which, if confirmed, would make a change from the $1 million Mercedes-Maybach Pullman Guard armored limousine Kim took at his recent summit with South Korean President Moon Jae-In.
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Such a vehicle would not have been easy to come by. Tough U.N. sanctions against the isolated country mean many luxury goods are out of bounds for anyone from the North Korean government.
However, in the past, Kim's father Kim Jong Il managed to find a way around sanctions by dispatching a personal shopper to Europe loaded with suitcases full of cash to buy luxury goods.
Despite the historic Singapore summit in June between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump, which hinted at a thawing in ties with the west, Pompeo has set his face to maintaining tight sanctions until Pyongyang definitively denuclearizes.
This has prompted the idea that the Rolls was a subtle dig at Pompeo's stance.
On his fourth visit to Pyongyang, Pompeo said his talks with Kim yielded "significant progress" and that Kim was ready to allow inspectors into his Punggye-ri nuclear testing site and the Sohae missile engine test facility, Reuters reported.
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He also said that they were "pretty close" to agreeing to a second meeting with Trump and that "both the leaders believe there's real progress that can be made, substantive progress that can be made at the next summit."
However, there was some skepticism of what the defense secretary had achieved. Former chief U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Russel told NBC: "Did Mike Pompeo go all the way to Pyongyang for party planning purposes? Is this just to set up a yet another summit without a clear understanding of what that's going to generate?"
Kim may also be able to compare his new wheels with the Pope-mobile, if Pope Francis accepts an invitation to Pyongyang. The offer is due to be relayed to the pontiff by the South Korean president on his visit to Europe next week, the BBC reported.
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