Winter essentials betray economic divides

These days, people in South Korea are starting to wear warmer clothes like mufflers or coats on their way to work. When it starts getting colder at this time of year, it sometimes reminds me that if I were still in North Korea, I’d be frantically busy making enough kimchi to survive the winter.

People in South Korea don’t worry that much about winter preparation compared to what North Koreans think of it. I’ve been living in South Korea for seven years and still haven’t gotten used to it. People in North Korea consider each winter to be a battle for survival and are busy each day with mobilizations and winter preparations.

Yes, annual winter prep in North Korea largely consists of collecting firewood, making kimchi, housing repairs and erecting barriers to block cold drafts. The residents also prepare winter supplies like padded clothes, boots, long underwear, gloves, socks, winter hats and scarves, etc. But these items are often used for several years instead of being purchased each winter. The stories on making kimchi and firewood have been covered a fair bit in the past, so today I want to talk about cotton wool shoes and winter boots sold in the marketplace.

Some residents purchase cotton wool shoes because they cannot afford to buy proper winter shoes. It’s a pity that some of the poorer residents have to wash and reuse the same cotton wool shoes over many years. The purchasing habits of people in the marketplace, whether they buy cotton wool shoes or winter boots, can act as an index to gauge their economic status.

In the case of cotton wool shoes, they are reportedly being sold at similar prices to last year. At Hyesan and Weiyeon market in Ryanggang Province, a pair of cotton wool shoes sells for about 40,000 KPW, cheap winter boots sell for 65,000 KPW, and expensive ones can sell for as high as 500,000 KPW. There are stark differences between those who are well off and those who aren’t in terms of their winter purchasing patterns. There are also some people who cannot afford to purchase shoes at all, because all their money must be spent on food and they have nothing left over. 

For undergarments, there’s a significant price gap between the Chinese and South Korean products. Chinese underclothes are sold at prices ranging from 90,000 KPW to 110,000 KPW, while underclothes labeled as manufactured at the Kaesong Industrial Complex are sold at around 180,000 KPW. The [South] Korean products are said to be popular despite their high price tags because of their fine quality and strong thermal insulation. The fact that products from the closed Kaesong complex are still being traded shows that some residents have been storing them and waiting for the right time to sell. It seems that those vendors who couldn’t sell them in the past due to the sales restrictions put in place by the authorities have finally been able to put their products on the market. 

It depends on the economic circumstances of each family. The families of officials, well-off DonjuLiterally "masters of money," donju refers to people who hav... More [new monied class], market vendors, and those who make a living through menial labor all have different approaches toward their winter preparations. For a family of four, it usually costs approximately 400,000 KPW for firewood and 750,000 KPW to make kimchi. Considering the fact that winter items like shoes and cotton wool clothes cost from hundreds of thousands to millions of KPW, they would have to spend at least 5 million KPW to adequately prepare for the winter season. The donjuLiterally "masters of money," donju refers to people who hav... More can of course spend much more money than ordinary citizens, and purchase more expensive winter products of finer quality.

However, for some families of officials, it doesn’t cost much for their winter preparations due to state provisions and bribery. Sometimes they don’t even have to visit the marketplace at all, as they can obtain everything through bribes. Most government officials ask for items they need as a form of extortion in North Korea.