North Korea owes New York $156,000 in parking fees

A North Korean diplomatic delegation visiting the United Nations headquarters in New York is said to have failed to pay more than $156,000 in parking tickets.

A New York police officer writes a parking ticket. Photo: Alamy.

According to NBC, the money came from more than 1,300 unpaid tickets dating back to the 1990s, making the North Korean delegation one of the biggest ticket debtors in New York.

Mr. Jong Jo, secretary of the North Korean diplomatic mission, denied this, saying the city had the right to deny parking to diplomats if there were more than three unpaid tickets.

“This is not right,” said Mr. Jo. “There is a mistake here. Every time we get a ticket, we pay. Because according to the law, if we have three or more unpaid tickets, the city will not allow us to park anymore.”

The rule dates back to a 2002 memorandum of understanding between the city and the US State Department, which allows New York to reclaim diplomatic parking spots if a vehicle has three or more unpaid tickets.

However, most of the North Korean delegation's tickets predate 2002, when the memorandum was signed. During that time, diplomatic vehicles from around the world routinely parked and ignored unpaid violations.

North Korean diplomat tells reporters there was a mistake over parking debt. Photo: NBC.

Since the memorandum was signed in 2002, diplomats’ parking debts have dropped significantly. Over the past 15 years, foreign countries have incurred less than $700,000 in debt, down from millions of dollars before 2002, according to the US Treasury Department.

North Korea isn't the city's only ticket debtor. Syria, Iran, Russia and China also owe a combined total of more than $1 million in unpaid bills.

Serious New Yorkers who pay their fares on time are not happy about this. "Trump needs to do something, he's just complaining about nothing," said Sioban Huggins, a resident of the Flatbush neighborhood.

New York authorities say unpaid pre-2002 tickets will not be ignored and it is time to pay up.

According to VNE