Choco Pies disappear from the streets of Pyongyang

Long popular with the people of North Korea, South Korean Choco Pies have disappeared without a trace from the markets of the capital, a Pyongyang-based source tells Daily NK.

"Because of recent crackdowns, Choco Pies from the ‘neighborhood below’ [South Korea] are hard to come by," she explained. "Since the order came down demanding that they restrict the sale of South Korean goods, you can only find Chinese substitutes and the local version.”

“In markets in Pyongyang you can see plenty of our Choco Pies produced locally at Yongseong Foodstuffs Factory, but they’re small and don’t taste good at all so not many people want them,” the source went on. "Unlike last year when they first came out, the number of people buying them has fallen."

As is well known, Choco Pies made by the South Korean company Orion are distributed as daily snacks to North Korean employees at the Kaesong industrial complex. Instead of eating them, many are taken out of the inter-Korean manufacturing zone and sold in local markets at a good price; currently around 1500 won a pie.

Sources report that the North Korean equivalent is so similar in appearance to the South Korean version that it’s hard to tell them apart, though the term "Choco Pie" has been replaced with "Choco Rice Cake", as is also the case for most South Korean derivatives of the original product.

According to the source, security forces have been going around markets in recent months confiscating items suspected of being South Korean in origin, such as second hand clothes. The authorities give the impression of wanting to halt the influx of such products into the country; hitherto it had been enough to simply remove South Korean tags to obscure a product's origin.

Analysts believe this is intended to emphasise the importance of the "Socialism in Our Style" policy while trying to reduce the popularity of South Korean products which pose a challenge to ideological indoctrination.

"CDs loaded with South Korean dramas have also totally disappeared in the crackdowns. In this confrontational environment, people can’t enjoy the culture of the neighborhood below, not even in secret," the source added.

The crackdown appears to be focused on Pyongyang, whose residents often find themselves subject to greater state surveillance in exchange for the highest standard of living in the country. South Korean Choco Pies circulate freely elsewhere, sources say. One such Yangkang-based source said: "For about two months at the end of last year there was talk that the South Korean Choco Pies contained some strange substance, and then there were none in the markets. But now there are plenty."

This follows from Daily NK’s report that North Korean labourers at the Kaesong industrial complex use Choco Pies to bet on company sports matches.