Sausages and chocolate bars may have replaced the Choco Pie so beloved of Kaesong Industrial Complex [KIC]
workers, but the chocolate snack is still going strong in North Korea’s public
markets, a source inside the country has informed Daily NK.
“Official
campaigns [against South Korean goods] had people concealing [evidence of sales of the snack], but
now South Korean Choco Pies are back up for sale in the market,” the source in
Yangkang Province told Daily NK on July 23rd. “As soon as they
appear people will go to buy them, which just goes to show their constant
popularity.”
“Most
residents are unaware that Choco Pies are no longer being distributed to
workers in the Kaesong Complex,” the source went on. However, “According to a few vendors this news is now slowly starting to spread.”
The
source explained that as word spreads that the snack “is no longer going to come from Kaesong,” so prices are creeping up on the threat of pending supply chain
issues. As of June 2014, Choco Pies manufactured by South Korean company
Orion were selling for 1,000 KPW each, but this had inched up to 1,200 KPW by the
beginning of July, and is now closing in on 1,500 KPW.
“There
were a number of merchants who believed that the halting/closure of Kaesong was
going to cause Choco Pie prices to rise,” the Daily NK source said. “[But] the sheer variety of foods on the market right now suggests that the price is
not likely to increase too much going forward.”
North
Korea officially reported in May that businesses within the Kaesong Industrial
Complex would no longer be permitted to distribute Choco Pies as snacks to
workers, and demanded that sausages, powdered coffee mix, barley tea and
chocolate bars be given out instead.
As a
result, Choco Pies now make up less than 1% of all snacks brought into the
Kaesong Industrial Complex from South Korea, substituted for the demanded drinks, sausages,
bread, and chocolate bars.
Choco
Pies have played an integral role in the 10-year history of the Kaesong
inter-Korean manufacturing project, helping the spread of Hallyu [the Korean
Wave of pop culture] in the North and leaving officials concerned over how to deal
with the potential for cultural contamination. Meanwhile, North Korean employees quickly
realized the worth of the chocolate treat, and instead of eating their allotment of the snack, sold them on the open market to supplement their incomes.
One
senior defector told Daily NK, “As Choco Pies circulated widely in the market,
so people developed a subconscious yearning for South Korean culture. These
Choco Pies were a symbol of South Korean economic development, one that led residents to
pine for life below the 38th parallel. Kim Jong Eun has far too much pride to let
that continue.”
