Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Tony_Balony]

I'm under the idea that many of the cigarette lighters I use, especially the cheaper ones, come from North Korea. Do you know about this?

[Bibbitybop]

The history of cigarette lighters in Korea is a topic of hot debate due to the cover-up of information years ago. Before the Korean War, lighters typically were imported from Japan and China. After liberation from Japan, Koreans shunned everything Japanese, including their lighters, although they did function better than Chinese lighters. When the Korean war hit, The USA supplied lighters to the south and the USSR supplied them to the north, as did China. During the Korean war, many lighters crossed the battle line. USA lighters ended up in the north while Russian lighters ended up in the south. Surprisingly, each side liked the other side's lighters better. Despite fierce battles and regulations against it, lighters were traded by soldiers on both sides. To this day, many lighters, including lighters made in Russia, China and North Korea, are the favorites of South Koreans while lighters made in South Korea or the USA (and recently New Zealand) are the favorites of North Koreans.


Just kidding. I have no idea.

[jinju]

that was an interesting story and the last line made me laugh:)

[kimchi_pizza]

That was a good one. I'm just looking for one with a secret decoder inside. A little info you may not've known is that US lighters are such a big hit in NK, that the only English word they've incorporated into the North Korean language is "Zippo" or "Chip-po" which North Koreans use to mean "Cool" or "groovy" or "bad-mfer" i.e. "He's a baaad chip-po!"

[swetepete]

Yeah, I've seen lots of DPRK lighters here...they say 'dprk' on them and tend to be real fire-squirters. If you crank them up to maximum they have a four inch flame.
You can read into that whatever you want.