North Korea’s wealthy entrepreneurial class, or donju, are busy preparing luxurious gifts for the New Year despite economic troubles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Daily NK source in North Korea said Thursday that gift-giving among the country’s rich has grown more colorful for 2023.
“More and more people think it’s best to give luxury items, unlike in the past when people sent New Year’s text messages with ‘mobile money’ at midnight,” he said.
This reflects the unstoppable New Year’s gift-giving practices of the country’s top 1%, for whom fads change quickly despite international sanctions and economic difficulties sparked by the protracted closure of the country’s border.
It also suggests donju are rushing to curry favor with high-ranking cadres given that the country has been recently moving to restart trade in earnest.
According to the source, the change in gift-giving this year has been the pursuit of luxury and practicality.
That is to say, one must prepare something expensive as a matter of course, but tailor the selection to the sex, occupation or other individual characteristics of the recipient.
Gifts that work for anyone include Rolex, Tissot and Seiko watches for men, and purses, handbags, perfume and cosmetics for women. “Many people think Chanel is the best,” the source said.
In fact, Pyongyang’s First Department Store, Ragwon Department Store, Daesong Department Store, Kwangbok Department Store and hotel shops, which sell fake name brands, are focusing on buying up and promoting luxury goods to mark the end of the year.
“They’re selling like hot cakes,” said the source.
Donju are also scrambling to exchange New Year’s gifts in person before the government issues a “special alert period,” including a ban on movement. Special alert periods are implement around holidays in North Korea.
However, donju who found face-to-face meetings burdensome reportedly used the mobile e-commerce app “Foreign Currency Shop Service 2.0” to buy and send gifts from early December.
Meanwhile, with trade, smuggling and markets struggling for the last three years due to the closure of the border, the gap between rich and poor “has grown wider than the gap between heaven and earth,” with ordinary people facing fewer options for New Year’s gift-giving than in the past, the source said.
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