`Italian Police Confiscated NK Leader`s 2 Yachts`

Italian police have reportedly seized two luxury yachts that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ordered from an Italian shipbuilder.

The Italian daily Libero said Friday that European financial authorities also confiscated in early April millions of dollars in deposits for the yachts as a possible violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1718, which was passed in 2006 to ban exports of luxury goods to North Korea.

Libero said police confiscated the yachts in Viareggio, a city near northern Tuscany, Italy, for breaching the luxury goods provisions of the resolution. The two yachts reportedly cost a combined 13 million euros.

Police grew suspicious of a yacht contractor, who was originally an Austrian businessman but later changed to a Chinese company. They began an investigation to trace the flow of money and asked for help from Austrian intelligence.

The probe discovered that the real customer was North Korean leader Kim.

The confiscated yachts will be put up for auction and the remaining funds paid via China were seized, according to the daily.

mindy@donga.com