In the 1970s, Sweden was exporting some machinery to North Korea. The Swedish government thought North Korea was a promising country and opened an embassy there. At the time, North Korea's economy was so poor that it was entirely dependent on foreign aid. Why the Swedish government thought North Korea was a promising country is still unknown.

At the time, North Korea ordered 1,000 "Model 144" cars from Volvo, then a Swedish company. The order was worth about $600,000.  Volvo immediately began shipping the cars to North Korea in 1974. It took a year to deliver all the cars.

The cars were distributed among the entourage of Kim Il Sung, the leader of North Korea at the time. In North Korea at the time, Volvo cars were a symbol of loyalty and status to the dictator. However, the Swedish government and Volvo had no idea that North Korea would not fulfill its promise to pay. North Korea had no intention of paying for the cars, and the unwitting Swedes and Volvo were forced to wait. In 1976, Sweden pressed for payment, but the North Koreans didn't respond. The Swedish government was forced to pay the receivables in full with public funds to save Volvo. With interest and inflation, the receivables have grown to nearly $330 million and are expected to continue to grow.

The Swedish government hasn't given up and continues to send North Korea demand letters twice a year. However, North Korea continues to ignore them completely. Some of the Volvo 144 models exported by Sweden are still being used as taxis in North Korea. There are two positive lessons in this story. The first is that the 'Volvo 144' model is robust enough to still be in use after 50 years. The second is that North Korea should never be trusted.

North Korea also purchased paper and machinery from Finland in the 1970s, but did not pay for them, resulting in a debt of 26 million euros to the Finnish government and 6 million euros to Finnish companies. Switzerland also sold Rolex watches to North Korea, but is reportedly owed 205 million Swiss francs.

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