This article is part of a series written by Daily NK journalist Kim Jeong Yoon entitled “North Korea’s Secret Stories.”
One day in November 2020, as North Korea’s borders remained closed due to COVID-19, a ship was slowly entering Port Daean, letting out a long blast from its horn.
Since the DPRK’s largest port in Nampo had shut down, most North Korean ships were docked at port. That this ship was entering Port Daean made it clear that it had been assigned a special mission, yet it was unclear why it was entering one of North Korea’s most important exit points for coal and minerals.
Reports by Daily NK suggest that this ship carried various products high-ranking North Korean officials had ordered from China. To survive the lockdown, the officials had come up with a plan to import products from abroad through routes they had used in the past.
North Korea’s embassy in China enthusiastically assisted in bringing this plan to fruition. After receiving requests from officials inside North Korea, the embassy quietly obtained the products through its staff, who passed the goods to the ship’s captain. Essentially, all of them acted as brokers for high-ranking officials in North Korea.
Embassy staff saw this time of zero foreign trade as a perfect opportunity to gather as much foreign currency as possible. As the embassy received numerous orders from other North Koreans dispatched abroad, staff began to advertise their services in earnest. They assured their customers that they would transfer everything onto ships coming out of North Korea, deliver it safely to their families, and even make calls to confirm deliveries.
Ordinary North Korean laborers in China also began to make use of this route to deliver money or letters into the DPRK, increasing the number of valuable customers for the embassy.
With its zealous business strategy, the embassy practically transformed itself into something akin to a North Korean marketplace where anything could be bought or sold. One employee of the North Korean embassy even said that South Korean electronics and cosmetics, normally difficult to import into the DPRK, were “OK as long as we get the money.”
The goods imported included not only electronics like Samsung TVs but also South Korean manufactured goods like shoes and clothing, and even memory devices (USB drives and SD cards), strictly prohibited by the anti-reactionary thought law enacted at the end of 2020. Of course, the imports were only possible if one had the money.
One embassy staff member who managed the transfer of goods charged USD 100 for a small bag and USD 400 for a Samsung TV, market prices that accounted for the risk involved in transporting them.
Ban on regional travel didn’t serve as a roadblock
The ship entering the Port of Daean was carrying many of these kinds of goods. But given that North Korea had strict bans on regional movement in place, how were the goods transported inside the country?
It turns out that the captain of the ship had already hired drivers of container trucks and delivery vehicles from each region to deal with that contingency.
Most goods had to be delivered to large cities where high-ranking officials reside, such as Pyongyang, Pyongsung, Nampo, and Sinuiju. Everything was delivered without incident to people’s doorstep, just like delivery services do in South Korea. Of course, all of this was only made possible by the power of money.
Everyone involved in the transport of the goods moved with such quick efficiency that they were faster than those instructed to urgently gather to prepare for war, according to people who took part in the process.
All of this shows that despite the North Korean government’s loud emphasis on “nationwide quarantine” and “the elimination of actions that undermine the state’s centralized control,” people inside and outside the country were actively engaging in operations to bring in products from abroad during the COVID-19 era.
Translated by Annie Eun Jung Kim. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
