North Korean Supermarket?

[ВАЛТЕР]

To quote young David after his trip to the dentist: "Is this real life?"

I thought they were under sanctions, how did the get this stuff in the country?

I'm in no way defending N. Korea, I'm just curious as to what this place is.

I doubt it is commonplace, and it is probable that this is just one such market, built exclusively for propaganda footage.


_7uqMvsow4A

[piet11111]

To quote young David after his trip to the dentist: "Is this real life?"

I thought they were under sanctions, how did the get this stuff in the country?

I'm in no way defending N. Korea, I'm just curious as to what this place is.

I doubt it is commonplace, and it is probable that this is just one such market, built exclusively for propaganda footage.


_7uqMvsow4A

I know that in the USSR there where special stores for party elites and i would be surprised if North Korea doesn't have a similar system in place.

[Sperm-Doll Setsuna]

I know that in the USSR there where special stores for party elites and i would be surprised if North Korea doesn't have a similar system in place.

DPRK imitates a lot of such Soviet eccentricities, so I would not be surprised, but being DPRK it is hard to find out any clear information. The stores for example might be open to all but prohibitively expensive for most, which has the same effect.

There's a very large department store in Pyongyang modelled after GUM (Department Store No. 1).

Of course there are goods in the country though. Quite a lot of it comes in from China, quite a lot of smuggling across the border by those that work in China or Russia seems to be tolerated as a way of bringing in goods both to black market and for regular commerce. A lack of food stuff does not necessarily translate into a lack of clothes or rare-purchase luxury goods that few afford to begin with.

[Misanthrope]

Who really cares? I mean, it looks to be a bunch of outdated (by a Western consumerist view point) technology. It's most likely a fake and it's sad that they are trying to seem prosperous by western standards.

A large population with expensive technological gadgets does not equate to prosperity when there are high rates of unemployment, malnutrition or any other social problem that is caused by poverty.

[piet11111]

Who really cares? I mean, it looks to be a bunch of outdated (by a Western consumerist view point) technology. It's most likely a fake and it's sad that they are trying to seem prosperous by western standards.

A large population with expensive technological gadgets does not equate to prosperity when there are high rates of unemployment, malnutrition or any other social problem that is caused by poverty.

They are trying to look prosperous to their own population to be able to say its no better out here then inside NK.