[imText1]North Korean people like brands too. Most of the foreign goods were from were from Japan and Europe.
These goods were brought in mostly by those who have relatives in Japan, diplomats, high level Party cadres and their family members. Others did not even dare to possess such foreign goods.
North Korean people too know that there are international brands such as Samsung, Hyundai, Lotte and Lucky. However, such South Korean goods never get to North Korea enough to be touched by the North Korean people. The aid for flood victims sent from South Korea that consisted of electronics and ramyun in 1984 were only distributed to high level central party cadres.
There are three ways people can obtain foreign brand goods. First is through their relatives in Japan and the US. The brand names like Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Mitsubishi, and Nissan are well known in North Korea.
How do people get to know brand names?
Second, one of the ways the people get to learn about the brand names is through the propaganda set up in the international sports stadiums. In international matches, matching places are covered with brand names. Those people who can read alphabet someties show off by telling others which country the brands are from.
Some people even write down those unfamiliar brand names and when some goods with such brands appear on the market, buy them regardless of their price. The seller asks for a high price according to the popularity of the brand.
Third way is learning them through Nodong Shinmun and other journals. Nodong Shinmun is a daily newspaper published by Worker’s Party. On the fifth and sixth pages of the Nodong Shinmun report about South Korea and international news. North Korean people curious about outside news usually are more interested on these pages than the rest of the news.
Nodong Shinmun usually reports that Samsung, Hyundai and other leading South Korean companies are slave business of the West. They see stock split companies as enslaved by the west. For this reason many North Korean believe that major South Korean companies are South Korean brands but owned by foreigners, technology and machines. However, at least they are aware that such are internationally famous brands.
It had been captured by the cameras how the North Korean representatives who visited to Seoul for the 8.15 Minjok Unification Grand Festival were holding Samsung digital cameras and luxury brand handbags.
However, it had been told how the North Korean representatives were surprised of “Equus” or “Chairman” and other luxury cars made by Hyundai, which were used to transfer them. It was because Hyundai cars were so good.
Save Several Months Wage to Buy Two Brassieres
Those most interested in brands are the high level cadres. The Central Party cadres educate the people to not use foreign goods but they themselves enjoy smoking foreign cigarettes such as DUNHILL. They know enough about foreign brands to evaluate which brand is best for shaver, recorder, and make comments such as “Russian products are like this and Japanese products are like that.”
The common people think even if they go hungry, they have to own at least one or two pairs of ready-made suits. Women save moths of their wages and exchange them to dollars to buy imported brassieres and shoes from foreign goods stores. They wear them only on special occasions.
Men buy imported belts or neckties. Like an old saying, men say “if you are man you need to wear at least belts and shoes from foreign countries.”
People have high trust in foreign brands. The Jochongnyeon, the pro-North Korean residents´ league in Japan, send used clothes at least once a year. The used clothes from Japan are sold out a minute after then land on land from the ship. The buyers pay as much as they have to buy whatever it is without checking which box contains what. That is because at least the box would not contain fakes. Now, people prefer South Korean goods than Japanese goods.
‘Bragging about Los Angeles’
When I was still in North Korea, I got to know a brand called “Jeil Mojik” (Jeil Wool). It was 1990. I visited my friend who had a grandmother living in the US. His grandmother who was known to have died during the Korean War actually stayed alive in South Korea and moved to the US.
When his grandmother visited him in North Korea, her gift included gray jumper made by “Jeil Mojik” for her grandson. When the rumor spread that my friend found his grandmother living in the US, everyone looked at him in envy.
He came wearing casual suits. While some students criticized him saying he was “bragging about Los Angeles” but many were envious.
One day, his friends found out that the tag on the jumper said, “Jeil Mojik” written in Korean. We all said, “this jumper is from South Korea” and were so surprised. It could not have been made in North Korea or China because it was well made fine product. It was definitely from South Korea.
Our friend said, “Even the Koreans in the US wear clothes brought from South Korea.” Then we found out that South Korean sewing technology was so good that clothes from South Korea were being imported all the way to the US. The jumper became so popular that it was sold to one after the other, and at most it was sold ten times of its original cost.
In the mid 1990s, clothes from the US were sold torn into half pieces and South Korean goods were not even circulated in the big markets such as those in Nampo and Shinuiju. Now, they do not have enough to sell. There is no restriction. South Korean goods are sold after tags are taken off.
