Archive for the ‘Clothing’ Category

North Korean Won dropping in value

Monday, May 21st, 2007

Institute for Far Eastern Studies
5/21/2007

Recently, the cost of living for North Koreans has become increasingly burdensome, as the value of the North Korean won (KPW) has steadily fallen. This phenomenon has been observed since the introduction of the July 1st measures in 2002, but the toll on poorer citizens is growing as money is concentrated in the hands of the elite.

A decent jumper jacket from China sells for 30,000 to 50,000 won, a kilogram of meat for 3,000 won, and a bottle of cooking oil for 2,700 won. North Koreans tell of taking 100,000 won to the market and, having only made a few purchases, leaving with an empty wallet.

Every month, a family of four requires 50 kilograms of rice (50,000 KPW or 1,000 won per kg) and 20 kg of corn (7,000 KPW or roughly 350 won per kg). On top of this, the expense of buying supplementary food items such as cooking oil, red pepper flakes, vinegar, garlic, and scallions is almost equivalent to the price of rice.

One North Korean woman (hereafter referred to as Ms. Kim) who sells noodles at the Hweryung Nammun market estimates her living expenses at 60,000 won per month. Ms. Kim, a housewife responsible for a family of three, earns about 2,000 to 3,000 won a day selling noodles. This amounts to roughly 60,000 won a month, which only covers food expenses. She cannot even dream of buying rice, let alone saving up to raise seed money for a business, as her income goes toward supplementary items like corn (23,000 KPW for 70 kg), cooking oil (2,700 KPW), and beans (950 KPW for 1 kg).

Ms. Kim’s husband, who works at the Hweryung machine factory, receives a monthly salary of 4,000 won. This money is only enough to buy four kilograms of rice. Ms. Kim started selling noodles ten years ago, when it became clear that relying on her husband’s income would end in starvation for her family. She said that she has not put meat on the table for her child in a long time, as it is difficult to afford even one kilogram a month. With the exception of merchants who trade with overseas Chinese, workers who earn foreign currency, and those with relatives in China, the majority of Hweryung’s residents live day to day.

With the recent order from the Ministry of Public Security to “cease selling, as rations will be provided starting in April,” local markets have come under stricter regulation. This regulation has had the effect of raising the price of goods manufactured in China. Before the restriction, transactions took place at stalls and impromptu shops, but now buyers must hunt down merchants, which has led to a rise in prices.

On a related note, the dollar’s weak performance in the international market has been reflected in the North Korean black market. The exchange rate remains pegged at one dollar to eight Chinese yuan, but the rate of the North Korean won to the dollar and to the yuan changes daily. North Korea does not have a fixed exchange rate, because individuals who offer money exchange services occasionally receive information on currency rates from China. Due to the dollar’s recent weakness, the rate of the North Korean won to the dollar as well as to the yuan has been falling for several months.

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Clothing with stories of fertility and faith

Monday, May 7th, 2007

Joong Ang Daily
Lee Ho-jeong
5/7/2007

The wearing of the hanbok, the Korean traditional dress, is undoubtedly one of Korea’s most cherished traditions. Once worn everyday, it is now most commonly worn on special occasions, such as the Lunar New Year and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving), or at weddings and funerals.

Although most people in Korea today wear western suits or sneakers and jeans, the hanbok has a special meaning for many Koreans and that is reflected in the high prices, particularly for some of the more elaborate examples.

Many experts say that Korean hanbok makers, in an effort to reconnect with the wider public, are researching ways to integrate the hanbok’s essential elements with Western fashion.

Bae Young-ja and Choi Hye-yool, authors of the book “The History of Korean Clothes,” said the hanbok, which consists of pants and a jacket, has its roots in the outfits of the Northern Altaic peoples.

(more…)

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Why North Koreans Wear Old Shoes in Wedding Ceremony

Monday, April 2nd, 2007

Daily NK
Kang Jae Hyok
4/2/2007

As spring is ripe, so are engaged couples. Not only in South Korea but also in the North, spring is a season of marriage. Yet ceremonies differ.

In North Korea, wedding ceremonies takes place in both houses of the bride and the bridegroom. Occasionally, rich couples rent a ceremony hall, common practice in Seoul.

In South Korea, all the guests come to wish the newly-weds a bright future. Undoubtedly, formally dressed. However, most North Koreans visit wedding ceremonies wearing regular dress.

The biggest difference is shoes. In both Koreas, it is customary to take off shoes before entering house and since wedding ceremonies in North Korea occur inside someone’s house, it is possible to lose ones shoes. Especially if well-wishers get drunk after the party or simply that too many visitors come to celebrate in a crowded house, shoes are often lost or as they say ‘confused’ in the case the shoes are of good quality.

So North Koreans do not wear nice shoes when visiting a wedding ceremony. Even slippers are worn.

This habit has trailed down to South Korea, for those who defected and came to Seoul. At Hanawon, an education facility for new-defectors into South Korea, instructors teach defectors to wear smart dress attire and formal shoes while attending wedding ceremonies.

An instructor who taught me at Hanawon told his personal story. When he was invited to a defector’s wedding ceremony, he saw several visitors wearing slippers, all of them were fellow defectors. When asked why, they answered that it was their habit from North Korea.

Such minor mistakes might cause others who do not understand North Korean customary habits unpleasant or even nervous. Thus, the instructor asked us, the defectors, to always dress formally at special ceremonies.

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Kim Jong Il Provides Field Guidance to Pakchon Silk Mill

Tuesday, March 13th, 2007

KCNA
3/13/2007

General Secretary Kim Jong Il provided field guidance to the Pakchon Silk Mill in North Phyongan Province. 

He went round the monument to the on-the-spot instructions given by President Kim Il Sung and the monument to his on-the-spot guidance standing in the compound of the mill. 

He said that the Pakchon Silk Mill turned into a modern silk producer thanks to the wise guidance and meticulous care of Kim Il Sung, underscoring the need to bring about a leap forward in production, always bearing his behests deep in mind. 

He made the rounds of various production processes. 

The WPK has strictly subordinated all problems arising in economic construction to improving the standard of the people’s living, he said, adding that to settle the problem of clothing is one of the two major important tasks as it is as essential as the food problem. 

It is an important work directly linked with the issue of improving the standard of the people’s living to increase the production of quality clothing materials and blankets, he noted, stressing the need to direct big efforts to producing silk to bring about a turn in settling the problem of clothing. 

The producers should acquire technical skill now that the mill has been furnished with new type technological equipment, he said, calling upon all the officials and workers to strive to acquire advanced science and technology. 

He expressed the expectation and conviction that the officials, workers and technicians of the mill would display creative ingenuity and patriotic devotion to boost the production of quality silk and blankets for the people and thus successfully discharge an honorable mission and duty as genuine servants for them. 

He was accompanied by Kim Phyong Hae, chief secretary of the North Phyongan Provincial Committee of the WPK, Pak Nam Gi, department director of the WPK Central Committee, and Ri Jae Il, first vice department director of the WPK Central Committee.

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Light Industrial Factories Updated

Wednesday, December 27th, 2006

KCNA
12/27/2006

Efforts have been made to renovate light industrial factories for the betterment of the people’s living standard in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Investment and scientific and technical forces have been concentrated on these projects, with the result that many successes have been scored in this field this year.

A new modern knitting yarn workshop with production capacity 4 times that of the existing one was commissioned at the Pyongyang Textile Mill. And the Songyo Knitting Factory had its production processes reinforced with more than 200 knitting machines. It makes it possible to mass-produce quality knitting yarn and fabrics with colorful patterns.

The Pyongyang Textile Machine Factory has renovated the flexible loom production base, thus opening a prospect to manufacture flexible looms on an assembly-line.

The Pyongyang Korean Clothes Factory has built an embroidering process controlled by computer to beautifully decorate silk fabrics woven by the Pakchon and Nyongbyon Silk Mills to meet women’s taste.

Renovation projects have been carried out in the local industrial field. Essential foodstuff factories including the Kaechon and Rason Essential Foodstuff Factories were built or reconstructed on a modern basis in over 30 cities and counties. They are producing tasty soy and bean paste and other nutritious essential foodstuffs.

Bean-milk production bases with a production capacity of several thousand tons have been built in all provinces to supply bean milk and bean sour milk regularly to the children. Among the newly built factories and workshops are the Sinuiju Bean-milk Factory and the bean milk workshop of the Hamhung Essential Foodstuff Factory.

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North Korea Urges Women to Wear Dresses

Friday, November 11th, 2005

Associated Press
11/4/2005

North Korea’s communist government is urging women in the country to wear traditional Korean clothes instead of pants, according to a North Korean monthly magazine.

“Keeping alive our dress style is a very important political issue to adhere to specific national cultural traditions at a time when the U.S. imperialists are maneuvering to spread the rotten bourgeois lifestyle inside North Korea,” the Joson Yeosung (Woman) magazine said, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

The magazine said exotic dress dampens the revolutionary atmosphere in society and blurs national sentiment and asked the public to reject clothes that aren’t North Korean style. Instead, it counsels women to wear Hanbok — the brightly colored, loose-fitting dresses that are traditional in the Koreas.

The campaign comes as North Korea struggles to tighten its control over an influx of outside influences, which it claims is part of a U.S. psychological offensive aimed at toppling the communist regime — a charge Washington denies.

Early this year, the North also launched a social campaign against men with long hair, calling them unhygienic, anti-socialist fools.

The North, which demands unquestioning allegiance of its citizens and controls all media, has stepped up the ideological education of its people to counter outside influences. However, the country’s loosely controlled border with China has led recently to increased traffic in smuggled recordings of music and videos from the outside.

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