Italy has blocked the sale of two luxury yachts to North Korea because it suspects they were destined for Kim Jong-il, the country's ailing dictator, in a potential breach of international sanctions against Pyongyang, the Financial Times reported Thursday, according to dpa. A contract for the sale of the yachts, valued at about 17.8 million dollars, was terminated this month after an investigation by officials from the Italian ministry of economic development and the Guardia di Finanza, Italy's anti-fraud police, the Financial Times said. A deposit paid for the initial work on the two boats - and which had been confiscated by the ministry - has been returned to Azimut-Benetti, one of Italy's leading luxury yacht makers. Azimut built the yachts and still has them at its boatyard in Viareggio, near Pisa. Azimut was not accused of any wrongdoing in the investigation, in which it co-operated fully, the report said. "Seeing the type of goods that were involved and the condition that the country (North Korea) is in, we were very suspicious that the yachts were for the leader (Mr Kim), though we have no evidence of this," the ministry said, according to the report. According to Azimut, an order was placed in February "through normal commercial channels" by an Austrian company for the two yachts. The Guardia di Finanza became suspicious when responsibility for the orders passed to a Chinese company and alerted ministry officials. It "found that behind this apparently regular operation the purchasers were actually attempting to violate the international embargo on North Korea, the true final destination of the two boats," Azimut said.
