{"id":38997,"date":"2018-12-20T17:52:05","date_gmt":"2018-12-20T08:52:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/?p=38997"},"modified":"2020-01-17T09:22:06","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T00:22:06","slug":"38997-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/38997-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Smugglers jump on winter demand for heaters and solar panels"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_38998\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-38998\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-38998\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"767\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718-768x491.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718-1024x655.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718-696x445.jpg 696w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718-1068x683.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/www.dailynk.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2018\/12\/4283_3552_5718-657x420.jpg 657w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-38998\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Solar panels atop residential buildings in North Korea. Image: KCNA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>As frigid temperatures descend on the Korean Peninsula over the winter, cross-border smugglers are being kept busy trying to meet growing demand for heating devices and solar panels in North Korea, sources in North Pyongan Province report.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGenerally speaking, smuggling drops off somewhat during the winter and it\u2019s also increasingly difficult to get things in on account of crackdowns on both sides of the border. But that hasn\u2019t affected the demand for space heaters and electric blankets, so smugglers are finding solutions,\u201d a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on December 14.<\/p>\n<p>Solar panels are also popular, he added, particularly smaller ones (roughly 40 x 60 cm) which can be used to charge heating devices.<\/p>\n<p>Chronic power shortages are a perennial issue, but following the harvest season the power supply typically becomes more sporadic and unreliable. This has the effect of driving up demand for alternative sources of power and heating, resulting in tempting profits to be made for smugglers willing to take the risk.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA 50W solar panel can power a small LED light or electric blanket for 3-5 hours. The winters here are incredibly harsh and people consider these items vital to make it through, even though they\u2019re so expensive,\u201d a separate source in North Pyongan Province reported.<\/p>\n<p>A 50W solar panel currently sells for 300 RMB in North Korea\u2019s general markets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As frigid temperatures descend on the Korean Peninsula over the winter, cross-border smugglers are being kept busy trying to meet growing demand for heating devices and solar panels in North Korea, sources in North Pyongan Province report. \u201cGenerally speaking, smuggling drops off somewhat during the winter and it\u2019s also increasingly difficult to get things in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":177,"featured_media":38998,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[645],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.7 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - 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