South Korean baby products are popular with both officials and other members of the Pyongyang elite, it has been revealed. A source from the city explained to Daily NK yesterday how South Korean versions are superior to their North Korean and Chinese alternatives, and that relatively affluent young parents in the North Korean capital therefore go out of their way to purchase them.
The source, an ethnic Korean living in China who trades goods between Pyongyang and the Chinese city of Dandong, explained the situation, saying, “My best-selling products in Pyongyang today may well be the baby products. More and more traders in North Korea are coming to me for South Korean winter clothes, diapers and strollers.”
He added, “Pyongyang cadres want the best quality baby products, and ask for them from the wholesale traders who come and go from China. These cadres have the attitude that money is no object and that the better the product is, the more they will use it.”
“When internal North Korean wholesalers find a product people like, they ask for enough to fill a small department store,” he joked. “We have to go everywhere to look for good quality products to satisfy demand.”
The trader informed Daily NK that he has been supplying products to stores in Pyongyang and Hamheung, South Hamkyung Province since last year. “It is funny how people from North Korea can tell if the product is made in China or South Korea at first glance,” he noted.
“Of course the fact that Pyongyang cadres love their children is not new,” he conceded. “But not only do they want the best products for their children; they are also competing with others to see who can get the best products. That’s why South Korean baby products are in high demand.”
South Korean products are banned in North Korea. However, the majority of goods do still make it into the country one way or another. Even some of those in Pyongyang stores are South Korean products minus the logo.
