North Korea is finding that there’s no such thing as a bad hair day when it comes to fighting crippling economic sanctions.
The Hermit Kingdom has been quietly raking in foreign currency by exporting wigs and false eyelashes, which 🅰are made of synthetic hair and classified as craft products exempt from the UN measures.
“At present, we have no other ways,” a North Korean🅰 businessman told🌼 a potential Chinese partner,
Sanctions against despot Kim Jong Un’s regime have reduced trade in Pyongyang’s major export products, such as coal and textiles, to almost zero.
They also prohibit UN mem🅷ber countries from accepting North Korean labor.
But products that are not subject to the sanctions in꧟clude crafts, which has made wigs and fake eyelashes an integral part of the country’s efforts to gain foreign money through the loophole.
“We have become unable to do the job we were engaged in,” a North Korean operator of an electronic parts factory told a person involvedꦇ in trade between China and North Korea last year.
“As a result, several thousands of workers have become excess personnel,ไ” he added.
The factory now churns ou💦🐈t the hairy products and the operator was looking for an introduction to potential Chinese customers.
Ads for “cheap” wigs have been visible in the Chinese border city of Dandong, along with promotions for fake eyelashes.
Some North Korean c🌱ompanies offer sample hair products with༺ explanations translated to Japanese because the potential Chinese middlemen may have sales routes to that country.
North Korean hair products are deemed to be top-notch because of the de🌺༺licate craftsmanship.
Of the country’s total export amount of about 🦹$17.96 million in February this year, hair-processed♍ products accounted for $2.4 million, or more than 10 percent.