The daughter of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, has become increasingly visible in the public eye in recent months.
Kim Ju-ae was first shown in November, when the state apparatus published photos of its leader and his daughter visiting an intercontinental ballistic missile test site.
Now she is attracting attention again after another similar visit – mainly because of her clothing.
South Korean Chosun has analyzed the images, released by the state news agency KCNA, and concludes that the jacket she is wearing is from the French luxury brand Diorwith a price tag of between NOK 15,000 and 22,000.
The exclusive clothing stands in stark contrast to the reports of poverty and famine in North Korea.
Reason to listen
Circumventing sanctions
UN sanctions have since 2006 prohibited member states from supplying “luxury goods” to North Korea. North Korea is also said to have introduced a ban on the use of so-called “capitalist” fashion for the citizens.
The bans affect Kim Jong-un and his family to a small extent. Among other things, the North Korean leader himself frequently shows off his fleet of luxury cars.
Center for Advanced Defense Studies has mapped how the goods – despite the sanctions – are smuggled in.
Their report concluded that more than 90 countries are sources of luxury goods that end up in North Korea, and that supply chains run through countries such as China, Russia, Japan and South Korea.
– The most important task for diplomats directly subordinate to the party is to buy goods according to the purchase list of Kim Jong-un’s family, adds Ryu Hyun-woo, North Korea’s ambassador to Kuwait until he defected in 2019, to Chosun.
– Severe food shortage
North Korea has periodically been affected by famine. In the 1990s, around two million North Koreans died of starvation.
Some experts believe that the country is now in the most serious food situation since the 90s.
– We consider the food shortage in North Korea to be serious, says Koo Byoung, a representative of the government in South Korea at the end of February.
A short time later, Kim Jong-un ordered an expansion of the agricultural sector. The country is subject to a number of sanctions and has long struggled with self-sufficiency, but no one knows for sure what it is really like inside the world’s most closed dictatorship.
The leader himself warned, during the corona pandemic, of a famine disaster similar to the one that hit in the 90sbut has not commented on the current situation.
