Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein
The North Korean authorities have reportedly begun a nationwide crackdown on Chinese products in the country’s markets. The unprecedented change now puts them in the same category as South Korean products, which are illegal to buy and sell.
“In a meeting last week, People’s Unit leaders informed us that all Chinese food products and home appliances, excluding industrial goods, are part of a new crackdown. Enforcement began immediately afterwards,” a source in Ryanggang Province told Daily NK on January 24. “Merchants who make a living selling Chinese products were suddenly very nervous.”
A source in Pyongyang said on January 22 that the effort had begun in the capital city and other regions including the northwest trading hub of Sinuiju by the end of 2017.
A source in Sinuiju confirmed this, saying on January 20 that “from last December, the crackdown on Chinese products in the markets has become more intense with each day. Across town in markets like the Chaeha market, the authorities are preventing merchants from doing any business with Chinese products.”
Full article:
Authorities initiate nationwide crackdown on Chinese products in the markets
Kang Mi Jin
Daily NK
2018-01-30
