{"id":326237,"date":"2026-11-12T04:33:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T19:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=326237"},"modified":"2026-11-10T07:36:31","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T22:36:31","slug":"hyesan-street-food-vendors-rising-prices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hyesan-street-food-vendors-rising-prices\/","title":{"rendered":"Hyesan street food vendors squeezed by soaring prices"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Street food vendors in Hyesan are struggling to survive as ingredient costs soar in November 2026. Raising prices drives customers away, but holding prices steady leaves vendors with almost no profit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hyesan sits on the Yalu River across from Changbai, China, in North Korea\u2019s mountainous north. The city is the capital of Ryanggang province, and its markets depend heavily on cross-border trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cStreet food vendors in Hyesan are very frustrated,\u201d a source in Ryanggang province told Daily NK on Friday. The vendors sell tofu rice, artificial meat rice, rice cakes and blood sausage to passersby on city streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBusiness was already slow and their income had shrunk,\u201d the source said. \u201cBut ingredient costs keep climbing, so making ends meet gets harder by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tofu rice is made by stuffing fried tofu pouches with rice and topping them with chili sauce. Artificial meat rice wraps a chewy sheet of pressed soybean residue around rice in a similar way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both dishes spread widely during North Korea\u2019s famine in the 1990s, when real meat was out of reach. They remain cheap, filling meals for workers and traders across the country today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Chinese yuan now trades at around 14,000 North Korean won in Hyesan, according to the source. That weaker won quickly fed into market prices across the city\u2019s food stalls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rice now sells for more than 50,000 won per kilogram in Hyesan\u2019s markets. The price has climbed after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-rice-corn-prices-record-high\/\">a string of record highs<\/a> recorded across North Korea earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Small vendors who buy and sell food in North Korean won have taken the hardest hit. Their ingredient costs have jumped sharply, yet they cannot pass those costs on to customers right away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen the exchange rate or rice prices go up, everything else follows,\u201d the source said. \u201cBut if you raise food prices even a little, people stop buying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNo matter how much ingredient costs rise, vendors can\u2019t easily charge more,\u201d the source added. \u201cSo there\u2019s no way they are taking anything home at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Merchants who trade in foreign currency and run larger operations feel exchange rate swings far less, the source said. Small vendors who live hand to mouth, however, are being pushed from the edge of survival toward ruin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Daily NK has previously reported that a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/north-korea-rising-chinese-yuan-exchange-rate-hurting-market-sellers\/\">rising yuan exchange rate hurts market sellers<\/a> who deal mainly in North Korean won. Street vendors have long worked on thin margins, even when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/n-korean-street-vendors-free-from-crackdowns-but-trapped-by-economics\/\">crackdowns on their stalls eased<\/a> in earlier years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 id=\"h-street-food-vendors-say-the-smuggling-slump-left-them-behind\" class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Street food vendors say the smuggling slump left them behind<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The source also blamed a sharp decline in smuggling across the Chinese border for the vendors\u2019 plight. In the past, official customs trade and smuggling ran side by side in Hyesan and other border cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That steady flow of goods kept North Korea\u2019s private markets, known as <em>jangmadang<\/em>, busy and full of cash. Even the poorest traders in those markets could earn at least a minimal income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">North Korea sealed its border with China in early 2020 to keep out COVID-19. Kim Jong Un\u2019s government has since cracked down hard on unofficial cross-border trade in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/suspended-smuggling-drives-up-prices-of-chinese-imports-in-north-koreas-hyesan\/\">suspension of smuggling has also driven up prices of Chinese imports<\/a> sold in Hyesan\u2019s markets. That has added to the pressure on traders already squeezed by the weak won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen smuggling was active, the yuan exchange rate stayed relatively stable,\u201d the source said. \u201cBack then nearly everyone could at least feed themselves and get by.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow the rate climbs relentlessly and rises again every few days,\u201d the source continued. \u201cLife has become harder than words can describe for ordinary people here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pyongyang has been expanding official trade that runs through state customs houses instead of smuggling routes. Trucks and hand carts loaded with customs cargo have become a common sight on Hyesan\u2019s streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hand cart haulers, who carry goods around the city for a fee, have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/hyesan-tightens-crack-down-pull-cart-delivery-people\/\">faced crackdowns in Hyesan<\/a> in past years. Today, however, the growing volume of official cargo has done little to improve daily life for ordinary Hyesan residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThings have gotten so bad that people quote the saying that a famous feast leaves nothing to eat,\u201d the source said. The Korean proverb describes an event that draws great fanfare but offers little to those who attend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cQuite a few people say that seeing trucks and carts hauling customs cargo actually makes them angry,\u201d the source added. Many Hyesan residents feel the new trade is passing them by entirely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the past, the source said, this much cargo moving in and out would have put money into the markets. Hyesan residents say that kind of trade once allowed ordinary families to make a decent living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow it only helps people with money and the state, and there\u2019s nothing in it for us,\u201d the source quoted them as saying. Some also grumble that well-fed officials will never worry about the lives of ordinary people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Hyesan street food vendor in their 50s described the hardship in blunt terms. \u201cThe state has never worried about how people like us survive,\u201d the vendor said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe\u2019ve always gotten by on our own, but these days it\u2019s hard to make a living no matter what,\u201d the vendor continued. \u201cRice costs 50,000 won a kilogram, and earning even 10,000 won a day is like reaching for the stars.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHow are we supposed to live like this?\u201d the vendor asked, noting that a full day\u2019s earnings now buy only a fifth of a kilogram of rice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBefore COVID-19, you could at least scrape by selling food even without much capital,\u201d the vendor said. \u201cNow it\u2019s hard to get even plain water, let alone thin porridge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe exchange rate and prices keep climbing, but the authorities still have no plan at all to deal with it,\u201d the vendor added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/20261106-2\/\">Read in Korean<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n<div style=\"background:#1a1a1a;border-top:3px solid #cc0000;padding:0;margin-top:32px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;\"><div style=\"padding:20px 24px 24px;\">\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:14px;\"><span style=\"display:inline-block;background:#cc0000;color:#fff;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.15em;text-transform:uppercase;padding:3px 8px;\">About This Translation<\/span><\/div>\n<p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;color:#bbb;line-height:1.75;margin:0 0 20px;\">This article was originally written in Korean and translated with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:1px;background:#333;margin:0 0 20px;border:0;padding:0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-bottom:14px;\"><span style=\"display:inline-block;background:#cc0000;color:#fff;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:9px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.15em;text-transform:uppercase;padding:3px 8px;\">Reporting from Inside North Korea<\/span><\/div>\n<p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;color:#bbb;line-height:1.75;margin:0 0 16px;\">Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media, satellite imagery, or defector accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime. We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;color:#bbb;line-height:1.75;margin:0 0 16px;\">Our sources remain anonymous because contact with foreign media is treated as a capital offense in North Korea \u2014 discovery means imprisonment or execution. This network-based approach allows Daily NK to report on developments other outlets cannot access: market trends, policy implementation, public sentiment, and daily realities that never appear in official narratives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-family:Georgia,serif;font-size:13px;color:#bbb;line-height:1.75;margin:0 0 20px;\">Maintaining these secure communication channels and protecting source identities requires specialized protocols and constant vigilance. Daily NK serves as a bridge between North Koreans and the outside world, documenting what&#8217;s happening inside one of the world&#8217;s most closed societies.<\/p>\n<div style=\"height:1px;background:#333;margin:0 0 16px;border:0;padding:0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display:flex;align-items:center;gap:16px;flex-wrap:wrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/how-we-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"background:#cc0000;color:#fff;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;padding:9px 16px;text-decoration:none;flex-shrink:0;\">How We Report<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/830d12539ead\/dnkweeklybriefing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" style=\"background:transparent;color:#cc0000;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:.08em;text-transform:uppercase;padding:9px 0;text-decoration:none;border-bottom:1px solid #cc0000;flex-shrink:0;\">Subscribe to Our Weekly Briefing<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Street food vendors in Hyesan are struggling to survive as ingredient costs soar in November 2026. Raising prices drives customers away, but holding prices steady leaves vendors with almost no profit. Hyesan sits on the Yalu River across from Changbai, China, in North Korea\u2019s mountainous north. The city is the capital of Ryanggang province, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":41297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,645],"tags":[738,763,767,881,930,1679,2611,100,222,271,709,714,717,735],"class_list":["post-326237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-economy","tag-hyesan","tag-covid-19","tag-food","tag-yalu-river","tag-foreign-currency","tag-chinese-yuan","tag-jangmadang","tag-markets","tag-border","tag-ryanggang-province","tag-poverty","tag-economy","tag-smuggling","tag-trade"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Street food vendors squeezed in Hyesan | North Korea News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Street food vendors in 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