North Korea hosts bizarre trade sale selling cheap Coca Cola rip-offs and budget computers to raise money for bombs
Stalls selling fur boots and laptops drew strong crowds with locals eager to get their hands on the latest gadgets and fashion trends
BUSINESS is truly booming in North Korea as the reclusive nation hosted its annual trade fair showcasing electronic goods as well fur shoes as the latest rage for this season’s must-have.
The 12th Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair, which opened at the Three-Revolution Exhibition House, in Pyongyang, on Monday, saw stalls selling budget laptops, tablets, Coca Cola copy-cats and other food items, basketballs, fur garments, scooters and even massage chairs.
The four-day event also featured random machinery, vehicles, 3D equipment, chemical products and clothes.
Snaps posted on the “official” Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) Today’s Instagram account show officials at the exhibition playing video games in an arcade and shooting down slides in a pool.
Delegates were also”treated” to a trip to its very own natural history museum showcasing a dinosaur skeleton.
More than 280 local and foreign companies from Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, China, Thailand, Iran, Indonesia, Vietnam, Germany, Russia, Italy, Cuba, New Zealand, Australia and Chinese Taipei displayed their wares.
More than 220 companies participated from various countries
This year, North Korea showed off many products that have been made on the principle of “self-reliance and self-development”.
Among the goods are large wall and floor picture tiles made by the Korea Ponyong Company, high-performance gel battery by the Koryo Changmyong New Energy Joint Venture Co. Ltd, digital LED TV sets by the Ragwon General Trading Corporation.
Food produces included fresh songi mushroom by the Songi General Trading Corporation and fermented beverages made from Jonghyang compound bacteria and nutritious calcium powder which helps “kids grow tall” by the Physical Fitness Company.
The fair took place while North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-Un detonated a nuclear bomb twice the size of Hiroshima.
Announcing the country’s fifth and largest nuke test to date, regime-run television claimed the country could now produce warheads “any time we desire”.
Politicians from across the globe have condemned the rogue state’s latest nuke test.
Earlier this week, as world leaders gathered for a G20 meeting in China, North Korea conducted a series of missile tests, which leader Kim Jong-Un branded “perfect”.
The country has already been sanctioned five times by the United Nations since 2006 for illegally testing nuclear devices.
Yesterday, South Korean and US marines carried out a re-enactment of the Incheon landing to mark the 66th anniversary of the start of Operation Chromite – the battle that turned the tide in the Korean War.
Observers say the huge military operation was also seen as an important show a strength to neighbouring North Korea.