North Korea is a highly secretive country. So it’s hard to know firsthand what civilian life is like in the country, but there are experts who say the food crisis looms over the population as the weapons program continues to grow. Oddly enough, North Korea’s military arm is strong (at least in terms of active military numbers) and the Kim Jong-un regime continues to develop its ballistic missile program.

This is something that costs a fortune, but the country’s economy has a significant backbone thanks to a product that has been overlooked in the face of international sanctions: hair extensions.

nuclear weapons. In 2006, the UN imposed a series of sanctions on North Korea related to the development of its nuclear program. Since then, in different years these sanctions have been strengthened or new measures implemented, such as those implemented a few months after the launch of a North Korean spy satellite. These sanctions partially function as a trade blockade, but the country is supposedly seeking to continue its arms financing.

A key weapon of North Korea is hackers who launch attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges to fund the regime (although they may get the toast back, like the attack that left them without internet two years ago). They also infiltrated workers into North American companies to finance this nuclear program. There is no blockage in the hair extensions market, at least for now, and it appears to be an important source of income for North Korea.

A wig every two seconds. China is a relentless producer of fake hair, and North Korea has been an important ally in recent years. The country closed its foreign trade with the epidemic, but after its reopening, the wheel turned again. It is estimated that in 2023, China will receive 1,680 tons of fake hair from North Korea, worth approximately $167 million. More tonnes (1,829 tonnes) had been exported in 2019 before the pandemic, but at a much lower price ($31.1 million).

This includes eyelashes, beards and wigs, and is the total of the products declared at customs, as there are also problems with smuggling. China and Russia are trying to get the UN to relax its measures against North Korea, but this is not something that will affect the artificial hair market because the light industry is not subject to sanctions. Be careful, this goes beyond China.

Consumption of such products is increasing in the Asian giant, but the main thing is exports to the West, which has a significant European, North American and African markets. Foreign demand is brutal and a Chinese-made wig is sold on AliExpress every two seconds.

Production place Chinese Korea. But… are these really made in China? Here’s the key. Reuters recently interviewed 20 sources with some involvement in the North Korean economy. This includes 15 people from the false eyelash industry and business lawyers who explain in detail the mechanics of this entire industry.

Basically, North Korean companies import sheet metal from China, assemble it on Korean soil at a low cost, and after this stage, it is China that imports the semi-finished product and starts packaging, labeling and selling it in both the national and international markets. And on this label we will see that the products are produced in China, with the exception of North Korea.

Lash capital of the world. There are a number of Chinese cities and companies that produce wigs, but it seems that a key node in this supply chain with North Korea is Pingdu, the self-proclaimed ‘Eyelash Capital of the World’, where 70% of the world’s false eyelashes are produced. In addition to synthetic fiber, it can also be produced with mink fur or human hair. Wang Tingting is one of the owners of one of these companies, Monsheery, and told Reuters that most companies in the city use the material imported from South Korea.

In fact, while Wang claimed that “the quality of the North Korean product is much better,” he also stated that he was not aware of any problems related to sanctions and the use of North Korean false eyelashes. The fate of your factory? the United States, Brazil and Russia, but a representative of one of the Korean companies working in this production chain confirms that apart from these countries, the destination of many eyelashes is Europe, Japan and South Korea.

South Koreans are not fooled. It is estimated that 80% of Pingdu companies purchase or process products from North Korea, and as we said, some of the production goes to the neighboring country, where the relationship has been on a knife edge for years. Johny Lee is a South Korean importer of products originating from this chain between North Korea and China, and he confirms that he does not buy or sell “advanced technologies such as semiconductors,” which has a strong veto over China and that “workers” are North Koreans trying to make a living.

The problem is that there is no certainty as to how much of this money in exports goes to arms financing by North Korea, and South Korean law establishes that products originate from the country where they acquire “essential properties”. This means that even though the label says ‘Made in China’, it was in North Korea that the product was actually shaped and therefore the product comes from there.

Additionally, the Seoul Customs Service states that “imports of North Korean products disguised as Chinese may be penalized,” while noting that this is a practice that is difficult to detect in some cases.

The quality of the eyelashes, not the workers. And as with anything, with such a secretive system, it’s hard to determine where the money is actually going and what the conditions are for the North Korean workers Johny Lee is talking about. We have already stated that China prefers North Korean materials due to their quality, but according to Reuters sources, the salaries of North Korean workers can be one-tenth of Chinese salaries.

On the other hand, Wang, manager of the Co-Lash factory in Pingdu, says that when North Korea closed its commercial borders during the epidemic, factory workers ‘left’ most of their income to the state. Of course, he did not provide evidence of this.

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