In the 1980s, the two major superpowers of the world - USA and Soviet Union were locked in The Cold War, but things were seeming to ease up. Severa nations participating in the war started trading with each other, i.e. their enimies, and started establishing better diplomatic relations. One such nation was North Korea.
The North Koreans established diplomatic relations with various nations such as The United Kingdom, India, Pakistan etc. by opening embassies and other representations in the respective countries. One of the countries they established relations with was Sweden. At the time, there were very few industries in North Korea, forcing them to mainly rely on the Soviet Union for even the smallest equipments. They were unable to satisfy their own needs and one such need was of cars.
As the decade went by, the Soviet Union grew weaker due to internal political issues. This heavily effected the North Korean industries and products. Jumping forward, the Swedish tried establishing proper diplomatic relations with the Hermit Kingdom. They opened an embassy and signed many bonds. Thus, an order was placed by North Korea to Sweden of 1,000 Volvo 144 cars worth $70 million! This order was soon shipped to North Korea. The Swedish government gave North Korea a bill with the payment amount for the purchase of teh cars, but Sweden recieved an empty envelope from North Korea.
North Korea never payed Sweden for the order, and this was regarded as the biggest car theft in history. Even to this day, Sweden sends North Korea a reminder every 2 years to pay up, but the latter never reciprocates. Nowadays, the ageing Volvo 144 cars are still being used in North Korea, with the country having one worst person to car ratio (1:10000) as those are still are one of the only cars being used there.
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