A rumor has recently been spreading among Pyongyangites that soybean oil from China is really illicit (recycled) cooking oil, Daily NK sources reported last Tuesday.
“Soybean oil sold in North Korea is often from China,” a Pyongyang-based source told Daily NK. “The rumors are that soybean oil imported from China and used in Pyongyang is essentially repackaged waste oil.”
In China, there have been reports stretching back to 2000 where illicit cooking oil gleaned from waste oil collected at restaurants and even sewage drains were sold to consumers as cheap alternatives to regular cooking oils.
Daily NK sources in China confirmed that a North Korean trading company recently tried to import recycled cooking oil.
“North Korean trading companies import soybean oil from China of terrible quality,” a Daily NK source based in China said. “The soybean oil that they import is just reprocessed oil that was used and thrown away.”
The source described how North Korean traders approach Chinese soybean oil traders to make a deal.
“The head of a North Korean trading company will approach a Chinese trader first and propose to buy soybean oil refined with chemicals,” the source said. “The North Korean trade will persuade the Chinese seller to make a deal by saying that North Koreans won’t mind because they only use a little bit when they cook.”
The source further explained that while the North Korean traders know the soybean oil is inferior quality they will present it to North Korean food factories as fresh.
“All the while, the traders themselves walk around saying they would never eat anything made in North Korea,” the source added.
There are concerns that North Koreans eating foods using such poor quality ingredients will get sick, another source based in China told Daily NK.
When recycled cooking oil became an issue in China, food safety experts made clear that when such products are consumed over a long period of time they could cause a variety of illnesses, including developmental problems in children, inflammation of the intestines, fatty liver disease, and even edema associated with the liver.
Daily NK sources reported that there is also growing distrust of Chinese products in general, not just of cooking oil, and many people already believe that North Korean products made with Chinese raw materials are low quality.
“I thought that North Korean products would be high-quality, but when the raw materials are all Chinese that just can’t be the case,” another Daily NK source in Pyongyang said. “An increasing number of women with kids are saying they don’t buy or feed their children sausages made with Chinese ingredients.”
The source added that North Koreans in Pyongyang are increasingly buying soybean oil from Southeast Asia, even if it is more expensive than Chinese brands. Chinese soybean oil costs about USD 4.5 to USD 5 (for five liters), while Southeast Asian oil costs about USD 6.
*Translated by Violet Kim
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