Among the growing array of South Korean media content and everyday goods available to North Koreans, mid-level cadres and the new monied class, or donjuLiterally "masters of money," donju refers to people who hav... More, are said to be developing a taste for distilled soju from below the border.
“‘Chamisul’ is the brand of choice, and a popular rare gift among mid-level cadres and donjuLiterally "masters of money," donju refers to people who hav... More on special occasions,” a source from North Pyongan Province told Daily NK in a telephone conversation. “A lot of them say that because the alcohol content is so much lower [than North Korean equivalents] you can drink like a fish without wreaking havoc on your liver.”
Additional sources in North Pyongan Province and South Pyongan Province confirmed this news.
A chronic shortage of necessary ingredients means that North Korea’s state-run food factories only produce alcohol for special rations–disbursed to privileged recipients–and around annual celebrations marking Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il’s respective birthdays.
Therefore, most liquor circulating through the markets originates from a booming moonshine cottage industry. But this privately-produced bootleg liquor is poorly distilled, with a minimum of 25 percent alcohol by volume. In fact, most North Koreans regularly imbibe liquors surpassing 30 percent alcohol content and suffer from related stomach and liver complications as a result.
By contrast, HiteJinro’s “Chamisul fresh” label is at 17.8 percent alcohol, and the stronger “classic” version, 20.1 percent, earning praise from North Korean consumers as a well distilled, mild alternative to harsh North Korean liquors.
But it is not without its naysayers. “Some people think ‘Chamisul’ tastes like water,” the source said, “but because people regard South Korean goods as high-end rarities, they’re always popular.”
In North Korea, factory-produced spirits like Kaesong ginseng liquor and Pyongyang or Taepyong brand alcohols are frequently served at weddings due to the high proportion of factory cadres and workers typically in attendance. “But if you go to a birthday party or a small gathering of friends and take ‘Chamisul,’ everyone brushes aside [other North Korean liquors] and wants to try it out,” the source said.
Strictly banned from import, North Koreans have over the years devised manifold methods of smuggling in contraband from the South–in this case, tucking “Chamisul” into crates packed with foodstuffs when passing through the customs house.
However, the supply is not yet robust enough to support a soju black market, and so most people simply gift bottles of the South Korean liquor to close friends. Popularity is limited, too, mostly to the mid-ranks of society. Those in the upper echelons of North Korea’s socioeconomic structure “live in a completely different world,” noted the source, explaining that the highest-ranking officials in the North prefer Cognac, other top-shelf liquors, and wine as a means of flaunting their wealth.
“But a lot of cultural elements from the South are so embedded in North Korean society now that, in due time, its soju will be too,” the source surmised.
