Labeled "made in China": how false eyelashes help Kim Jong-un get Western money - Reuters
Kyiv • UNN
How false eyelashes from North Korea help finance its regime through China. Millions of dollars from the sale of North Korean false eyelashes sold in cosmetic stores around the world as "made in China" helped North Korea rebound in exports last year, according to a Reuters investigation.
Millions of dollars from sales of North Korean false eyelashes, which are sold in cosmetic stores around the world as "made in China," helped North Korea's exports recover last year. This is evidenced by an investigation by Reuters, reports UNN.
Details
The processing and packaging of North Korea's false eyelashes, which is openly conducted in neighboring China, the country's largest trading partner, gives Kim Jong-un's regime a way to circumvent international sanctions and provides a vital source of foreign currency.
Reuters spoke to 20 people, including 15 from the eyelash industry, as well as trade lawyers and experts on North Korea's economy, who provided details of the scheme. According to them, Chinese firms import false eyelashes from North Korea and then complete and package them as Chinese goods.
The finished eyelashes are then exported to markets including the West, Japan, and South Korea. This was confirmed to journalists by eight people who work directly for companies involved in the eyelash trade.
Many reputable Chinese companies resell North Korean eyelashes. In particular, manufacturers from Pingdu, a city in eastern China that is considered the "world capital of eyelashes," do not hesitate to buy eyelashes. The local authorities have repeatedly stated that 70% of all false eyelashes in the world are produced there. Moreover, Pingdu is a key node in the supply chain from North Korea.
Many companies based in Pingdu, such as Monsheery, package false eyelashes, which are produced mostly by North Koreans, said Wang Tingting, whose family owns a firm that exports to the United States, Brazil and Russia.
Wang said in an interview from her factory that North Korean goods helped her build Monsheery from a small family workshop. The company was founded in 2015, corporate records show.
The quality of the North Korean product is much better.
She noted that she was not aware of any sanctions-related issues related to the use of North Korean artificial eyelashes. She declined to name her international clients.
However, most eyelash producers in Pingdu are aware of the role of sanctions in the complex distribution chain.
If it were not for these sanctions, (the North Koreans) would not need to export through China.
Cui Huizhe, who represents a North Korean factory that works with a Chinese partner in a venture called Korea-China Processing Joint Trading Company, said the North Korean firm ships semi-finished eyelashes to China, where they are sold to markets including the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea.
He refused to name the two companies involved in the partnership or their clients. Subsequently, journalists were unable to contact him for comment on the consequences of the sanctions.
According to the heads of the three Chinese factories, Chinese manufacturers began cooperating with North Korean eyelash factories in the early 2000s. They said that they appreciate the country's labor force for the low cost and high quality of eyelashes.
According to a 2023 estimate published by Kali, a Chinese eyelash box manufacturer, about 80% of eyelash manufacturing plants in North Korea buy or process raw materials and semi-finished products for false eyelashes in North Korea.
Despite the quality of eyelashes, North Korean labor is poorly paid. Wages in North Korea can be a tenth of those in China, according to four Chinese factory owners and managers.
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North Korea has long been a major exporter of hair products such as wigs and false eyelashes. Many people are willing to pay money for artificial hair to avoid the hassle of mascara and achieve a dramatic look. However, according to the publication, exports fell during the COVID-19 pandemic when North Korea tightly closed its borders.
Trade in eyelashes made in North Korea through China resumed last year.
Data from Chinese customs showed that North Korea's exports to China more than doubled in 2023, when the borders reopened. It should be noted that China is the destination for almost all of North Korea's declared exports.
Wigs and eyelashes accounted for nearly 60% of North Korea's reported exports to China last year. In total, in 2023, North Korea exported 1680 tons of false eyelashes, beards, and wigs to China, worth about $167 million.
In 2019, when prices were lower, it exported 1,829 tons worth only $31.1 million.
The U.S. State Department and international experts estimate that North Korea takes up to 90% of foreign income earned by its citizens, many of whom live in poverty. Reuters was unable to determine how much revenue from the sale of eyelashes returned to the Kim government or how it was used.
We have to assume that... the millions of dollars a month that North Korea earns through this eyelash trade are used for the Kim Jong-un regime.
His point of view was confirmed by two other international trade experts, although none of them provided concrete evidence.
North Korea did not respond to requests for comment for this story sent to its UN missions in New York and Geneva, its embassy in Beijing, and its consular office in the Chinese border city of Dandong.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that Beijing and Pyongyang "are friendly neighbors" and that "normal cooperation between the two countries, which is legal and in good faith, should not be exaggerated.
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Context
Since 2006, the United Nations Security Council, in an effort to halt Pyongyang's nuclear program, has imposed a dozen sanctions resolutions that have restricted the country's ability to trade in products such as coal, textiles, and oil. Severe sanctions restrictions also affected North Koreans' work abroad.
Sanctions adopted by the Security Council are supposed to be implemented by UN member states in accordance with the agreement.
However, there was no direct ban on hair products. So the trade in false eyelashes from North Korea does not necessarily violate international law, three sanctions experts told Reuters.
Reuters presented its findings to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which stated that it was "not aware of the circumstances described" but that any alleged violations of UN sanctions were "completely unfounded.
Japan's Foreign Ministry did not comment on Reuters' findings, but said Tokyo, which bans trade with Pyongyang, will continue to consider the "most effective approach" to North Korea. The European Union's diplomatic service did not respond to requests for comment on eyelashes made in North Korea and sold in its jurisdiction.
Since 2008, the United States has separately expanded its own measures against North Korea to include sanctions against any company that stores or sells products whose sales are financed by the Kim regime: a restriction that also applies to non-U.S. firms using the U.S. dollar.
