Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

If products are on sale and available in Emart for example, alongside everything else, then, is buying those products

a.) supporting the Kim Jung Il regime, or is it
b.) supporting the poor peasant laborers who work to survive in their sweatshops just across the DMZ? Or,
c.) is it supporting the South Korean factory owners who deprive locals of good jobs by taking advantage of the cheap labor in the free enterprise zone just across the border?

Or something else? How do you see it? Would you buy a product made in North Korea?

[bluelake]

I've done it before, although it was only out of curiosity. Back in the early 90s, NK products began trickling into SK. The first thing my wife bought was a pair of pants for me. They were, hands down, the worst pair I have ever owned. The material was pitiful. You just looked at them and they wrinkled. Now, on the other hand, even though I'm not a big fan of soju, Pyongyang soju wasn't all that bad; my wife picked up a few bottles of it when it was available.

[thrylos]

Ever tried "Taedonggang' beer from NK? Beats the hell out of Cass/Hite/OB any day of the week. Apparently, they had Germans show them how to brew it (like Japanese beers), not Americans. 'Nuff said.

[Zutronius]

[DeMayonnaise]

[Bibbitybop]

[sesyeux]

i think they bought some small brewers from here then shipped it over. i don't even like english beer when it's made here so i can begin to imagine what it'll taste like

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

Okay, so, for you all then, the quality of the product is more important than the question of who made the product, or where it was made and the ethical implications, right?

[oldtactics]

I've had North Korean soju.

I don't think that 'supporting' sweatshop owners in NK is any different than supporting the sweatshops that make every other thing we wear and use.

In my eyes, the more products that NK starts making and selling, the less isolated their population is. Connecting to other countries as a producer is a good step towards becoming more connected to the outside world in general.

[Solarian]

[neil537]

I agree with Bibbitybop, the NK beer is very good, I might put Tsingtao first, but it's a close call.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taedonggang

"In 2000, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il decided that he wanted a brewery. At that point having good relationships with the West, via connections to Germany the Government of North Korea bought the intact and still in place brewery plant of the closed Ushers of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, England for �1.5M via broker Uwe Oehms. Concerned it could be used for chemical weapons production, after assurances Peter Ward, of brewing company Thomas Hardy Brewing and Packaging bought the plant, and arranged for a team from North Korea to travel to Trowbridge to dismantle it. Reinstalled and operational from 2002, the brewery uses German-made computerized brewing control technology."

Classic Kim-Jong-il.

[ThingsComeAround]

I have.

And I will again.

[Ramen]

If they sold NK's stealth torpedo, I'd buy it.

[djsmnc]

[BoholDiver]

If you go to the DMZ, there are a few select NK products for sale. Crushed acorns, etc.

Lots of twigs and leaves for Korean soups.