Beef is one of the 24 “luxury items” banned from Japanese export to North Korea as part of U.N. Security Council resolution 1718. The measure, enacted in response to North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear test, calls on U.N. member states to ban the export of weapons, technology and luxury goods.

The 24 items include beef, tuna meat, caviar and its substitutes, liquor, cars, motorcycles, motorboats, yachts, watches, cameras, audio and video devices, movie and music software, jewelry, carpets and tobacco. Besides utilizing terror, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is believed to favor such items for his personal use and as rewards for loyalty from the impoverished nation's power elite.