[imText1]“With a pouch of Cat Cigarettes, I was able to get by.”
“I was allowed to visit someone in prison with 2 pouches of Cat Cigarettes.”
”When I became a high-ranked official, I didn’t need to smoke anything but Cat Cigarettes.”
This is what is often heard in the interviews with North Koreans. Cat Cigarettes is considered the most typical bribe in North Korea. The official brand name is CRAVEN A, but it is known as Cat Cigarettes because each pack has a black cat on it.
DailyNK obtained a pack of CRAVEN A circulated in North Korea, from a Chinese trader who runs business in and out of North Korea.
The Jangmadang price of CRAVEN A is about 1,500Won($0.5) a pack. Considering that monthly salary of a North Korean worker is 2000~10,000won($0.6-3.3) and the price of 1kg of rice is 800~900won($0.27-0.3)), CRAVEN A is very costly.
CRAVEN A is a product of British American Tobacco(BAT), and is widely consumed in the Middle East and Africa. In October 2004, the Guardian, British daily newspaper, had reported that BAT has been secretly operating a cigarette factory in North Korea. BAT announced that they had established “Daesung-BAT” with Chosun Suhkyung Trading Company in September 2001, and has been producing CRAVEN A and Viceroy.
Teresa La Thangue, a spokesman from BAT said, “Approximately 200 workers are present in the factory in North Korea, producing maximum of 2,000 million cigarettes every year, and all the products are consumed strictly in North Korea.” When asked the reason for not revealing the existence of the factory in North Korea earlier, Thangue replied, “Compared to the scale of BAT, which produces 90 billion cigarettes every year, the factory in North Korea only takes up a very small portion of the output.”
“Daesung Cigarette Factory in Pyongyang Has Been Producing Counterfeit Cigarettes”
However, North Korean defectors say that CRAVEN A has been circulated even before the BAT factory was established in North Korea.
Mr. Cho Chul Bok (53), a North Korean defector from Pyongyang has been smoking CRAVEN A since 1996. He said, “The monthly salary of workers at that time was under 100 won, but the price of a pouch of Cat Cigarette was 150won. It was widely used for bribes because of its high price.”
”The taste of cigarettes changed around year 2000, and a large amount was sold in public, so I was wondering why. Now that I think about it, it was because the BAT factory was established in North Korea.” He also said, “Compared to the Cat Cigarette produced in China, the lower quality of North Korean products is noticeable. CRAVEN A produced in North Korea has a product number starting with D printed on the bottom.”
Mr. Cho also said that he could not believe that CRAVEN A produced in North Korea are sold only in North Korea. He said, “It does not make sense that North Korean government officials would cooperate with a foreign company to circulate the products only in North Korea, considering the situation of North Koreans. I am sure that they are producing counterfeit cigarettes more easily since they started the cooperation with a foreign company, and they must be exporting the products through secret routes.”
Mr. Kim Young Kil (37), another North Korean defector from Pyongyang said, “I was aware that Daesung Cigarette Factory has been producing counterfeit cigarettes. North Koreans, think that they are produced in cooperation with foreign companies, but Daesung Cigarette Factory produces cigarettes with many widely known brand names such as Dunhill, Mild 7, Marlboro, etc.
BAT did not reveal the exact location of the cigarette factory in Pyongyang, but the name of the factory “Daesung-BAT” reveals the possible connection with Daesung Cigarette Factory.
Daesung Cigarrette Factory is located in Misan Dong, Daesung Gu, Pyeongyang. The name of the factory is for the use of foreigners, and the domestic name is Basic Science Institute Cigarrette 1 Factory and 2 Factory. Basic Science Institute was called ‘Kim Il Sung Longevity Institute’ in the past. It used to be listed under the paymaster department of Kumsusan Hall but has moved to be listed under the Central Chosun Workers’ Party.
