Young North Koreans spend big on electric bikes and smartphones
Electric bicycles and smartphones are expensive in North Korea, however high fees have not stymied the popularity of those gadgets some of u. S. A .’s teenagers.
“These gadgets are absolutely popular amongst younger human beings in important North Korean cities like Chongjin,” a supply in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK. “People even starve themselves to shop enough cash to buy them.”
Electric bicycles and smartphones are reportedly famous in foremost cities like Pyongyang.
E-motorcycles permit younger marketers to speedy delivery goods from one location to another, whilst smartphones offer a manner to speak and conduct virtual money transfers.
Young North Koreans seem to compete with each different to shop for the ultra-modern model of these products. They aren’t get rid of with the aid of the pricey charges, the source said.
An electric motorcycle, as an example, is going for three,000 to 4,000 yuan, or three.Four-four.Five million North Korean won.
One kilogram of rice in North Korea costs 5,000 North Korean received, which means that an electric powered motorbike expenses the equal of extra than 900 kilograms of rice. North Koreans usually devour round fifty-nine kilograms of rice in keeping with the year (in line with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), so the fee of an electric motorbike is sufficient to buy rice for 15 human beings for 12 months.
A separate source in North Hamgyong Province also mentioned that South Korean products, inclusive of domestic appliances, are popular in Chongjin.
“South Korean merchandise like fridges, rice cookers, TVs, Ottogi jjajang (black noodles), and various varieties of seasonings are famous. People buy those objects thru individuals who sell them at their houses, not neighborhood markets,” she stated.
“It’s sincerely tough to shop for South Korean merchandise in China. People need to pay bribes to customs officers, so it’s pricey to convey them into us of a. It’s safer to shop for them in Chongjin than in China or South Korea, despite the fact that they’ll be a chunk extra expensive here.”
North Korea’s continual energy problems, meanwhile, are making it tough for people to use the electric appliances of their houses.
“Families that get energy can use their rice cookers, however people who don’t just position their rice cookers out for the show,” the initial source reported.
Some families are in a position to turn at the lighting or watch television because they have got solar panels; but, solar panels do now not provide sufficient power to strength excessive-energy merchandise like rice cookers and refrigerators.
“People recharge their electric motorcycles at their factories, now not at home,” he said.
“Factories always have a regular glide of electricity. Factory managers even make cash by charging people for the use of electricity to recharge their bikes.”
