False eyelashes and wigs valued at more than $165 million were exported from North Korea and then sold to the West as “made in China” last year.
False eyelashes – known colloquially as “fakes” – and wigs accounted for 60% of North Korea’s reported exports to China in 2023, bringing $167 million in foreign cash to the Hermit Kingdom.
The country exported more than 1,600 tons of fakes alone, according to a Reuters investigation.
The discovery raised eyebrows in the West, which imposes tough sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear program, resulting in bans on trade in coal, textiles and oil, among other items.
The US State Department estimates that the totalitarian government seizes up to 90% of its citizens’ income earned from foreign exports, leaving many living in poverty.
The eyelash and hair trade is supposed to generate millions each month for Kim Jong Un’s regime, although the exact total is unknown, according to sanctions lawyer Shin Tong-chan and other international trade experts.
False eyelashes – known colloquially as “false” – and wigs will represent 60% of North Korea’s declared exports to China in 2023, generating a product worth $167 million. The country exported more than 1,600 tons of fakes alone. REUTERS
Trade in hair, which includes eyelashes, is not sanctioned, meaning North Korea can freely trade the products with China without violating international law, three sanctions experts told the outlet.
China imports semi-finished North Korean eyelashes and then puts a “made in China” label on them after completing and packaging the products, the report said, citing 15 sources in the eyelash industry.
The products are then shipped to the West, Japan and South Korea, eight people directly involved in the trade told the outlet.
North Korean exports to China almost doubled in 2023 after the difficult pandemic years, when the DPRK strictly closed its borders. In 2019, just before the pandemic, the country produced fewer eyelashes and other hair products, generating just $31.1 million.
The reason China imports eyelash materials from North Korea, and has done so since the early 2000s, is the country’s low cost of labor and high-quality eyelashes. Reuters
The two Asian countries maintain that their trade is legal and any suggestion that it violates UN sanctions is “completely unfounded.”
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that Beijing and Pyongyang “are friendly neighbors” and that “normal cooperation between the two countries that is legal and compliant should not be exaggerated.”
However, the United States has further sanctions against North Korea, including sanctioning any company whose sales finance the Kim regime.
The United States faces problems applying such sanctions unilaterally to foreign companies whose main customers are not Americans, two international sanctions lawyers told Reuters.
The discovery has drawn attention among the West, which plans tough sanctions against North Korea due to its nuclear program, causing a ban on trade in coal, textiles and oil, among other items. REUTERS
A U.S. Treasury spokesman said it “actively applies the reach of our broad North Korea sanctions authorities against U.S. and foreign companies” and would “continue to aggressively attack any revenue-generating efforts” by Pyongyang.
In 2019, the Treasury Department sued elf Cosmetics for nearly $1 million over allegations that it was inadvertently selling false eyelashes containing materials from North Korea.
The cosmetics company discovered two suppliers were using materials from the country during a “routine” audit and later determined it was “not material,” it said in a document at the time.
The reason China imports eyelash materials from North Korea, and has done so since the early 2000s, is the country’s low cost of labor and high-quality eyelashes.
North Korean workers can be paid a tenth of what their Chinese counterparts are paid for the same service.
China’s Pingdu, known as the “eyelash capital of the world,” finds 80% of its eyelash factories buying from North Korea, Reuters has found.
“The quality of North Korean product is much better,” said Wang Tingting, owner of a family business that exports products to the United States, Brazil and Russia.
With mail cables.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn