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Sausages and chocolate bars may have replaced the Choco Pie so beloved of Kaesong Industrial Complex [KIC] \u201cOfficial \u201cMost The \u201cThere North As a Choco One <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sausages and chocolate bars may have replaced the Choco Pie so beloved of Kaesong Industrial Complex [KIC] workers, but the chocolate snack is still going strong in North Korea’s public markets, a source inside the country has informed Daily NK. \u201cOfficial campaigns [against South Korean goods] had people concealing [evidence of sales of the snack], […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":27834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nworkers, but the chocolate snack is still going strong in North Korea’s public
\nmarkets, a source inside the country has informed Daily NK.<\/span><\/p>\n
\ncampaigns [against South Korean goods] had people concealing [evidence of sales of the snack], but
\nnow South Korean Choco Pies are back up for sale in the market,\u201d the source in
\nYangkang Province told Daily NK on July 23rd<\/font>. \u201cAs soon as they
\nappear people will go to buy them, which just goes to show their constant
\npopularity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nresidents are unaware that Choco Pies are no longer being distributed to
\nworkers in the Kaesong Complex,\u201d the source went on. However, \u201cAccording to a few vendors this news is now slowly starting to spread.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nsource explained that as word spreads that the snack \u201cis no longer going to come from Kaesong,” so prices are creeping up on the threat of pending supply chain
\nissues. As of June 2014, Choco Pies manufactured by South Korean company
\nOrion were selling for 1,000 KPW each, but this had inched up to 1,200 KPW by the
\nbeginning of July, and is now closing in on 1,500 KPW.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nwere a number of merchants who believed that the halting\/closure of Kaesong was
\ngoing to cause Choco Pie prices to rise,\u201d the Daily NK source said. \u201c[But] the sheer variety of foods on the market right now suggests that the price is
\nnot likely to increase too much going forward.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
\nKorea officially reported in May that businesses within the Kaesong Industrial
\nComplex would no longer be permitted to distribute Choco Pies as snacks to
\nworkers, and demanded that sausages, powdered coffee mix, barley tea and
\nchocolate bars be given out instead.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nresult, Choco Pies now make up less than 1% of all snacks brought into the
\nKaesong Industrial Complex from South Korea, substituted for the demanded drinks, sausages,
\nbread, and chocolate bars.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nPies have played an integral role in the 10-year history of the Kaesong
\ninter-Korean manufacturing project, helping the spread of Hallyu <\/i>[the Korean
\nWave of pop culture] in the North and leaving officials concerned over how to deal
\nwith the potential for cultural contamination. Meanwhile, North Korean employees quickly
\nrealized the worth of the chocolate treat, and instead of eating their allotment of the snack, sold them on the open market to supplement their incomes.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nsenior defector told Daily NK, \u201cAs Choco Pies circulated widely in the market,
\nso people developed a subconscious yearning for South Korean culture. These
\nChoco Pies were a symbol of South Korean economic development, one that led residents to
\npine for life below the 38th parallel. Kim Jong Eun has far too much pride to let
\nthat continue.”<\/span>
<\/span><\/p>\n