It’s been seven years and Polish businessman Andrzej Kompa is still waiting for repayment on a $2 million loan made to the North Korean embassy in Poland for renovations to their Warsaw digs back in 2005.
Apparently, the loan was to be repaid by revenue taken in from fees the North Korean delegation would earn by renting out part of the building. (I suppose it might be a novelty spot for anniversary’s, business meetings, breakdance competitions, etc.)
In 2009, the diplomatic corps was rotated and Kompa hoped to fare better getting his money from the incoming staff. Fat chance on that. The newly minted NK officials held his documents up to a light and declared them forgeries. “No rent for you!”
Perhaps Kompa made the mistake of bringing along big-boobed assistants to woo his debtors.
Kompa should have done his due diligence and consulted the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations before loaning money to the Norkos. It states that business activities are not to be carried out from a property with diplomatic status. The whole idea of renting the place out was a no go from the get go. Kompa claims this that it’s common practice and that Polish officials are using international law to avoid confronting the North Koreans.
In June of last year he filed a $35,000 lawsuit in polish courts hoping to get something out of the deal gone awry, but the court refused to hear the case since diplomatic code gives the embassy no legal status anyway.
It appears a positive judgment before a Polish court will do nothing for me anyway, but there is no way I will go to a court in Pyongyang about this,” a furious and frustrated Mr Kompa told the newspaper. “The money owed to me has gone to Pyongyang and who knows where they have invested it. Perhaps in the nuclear programme.
So that’s where they got the money. You can read the rest of The Telegraph article here.
According to NK News.org, cash-strapped North Korean embassies are typically expected to be self-reliant and fund themselves through business activities of some sort in their host country. This raises some interesting possibilities for revenue streams, to be sure.
On a side note, the Poles obviously have a good sense of humor.
This was cross posted on The Marmots Hole.
