August 28, 2025 07:10 AM IST
First published on: Aug 28, 2025 at 07:10 AM IST
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Even in North Korea, the idea of a good life looks something like a Starbucks. And Uggs. And onion rings and “lego sets” that are inspired by similar products — down to their packaging — found in the vigorously capitalist societies beyond the borders of the self-identified socialist utopia. If “the tendency to swallow things of others undigested or imitate them mechanically” was anathema to “Eternal President” Kim Il Sung, under his grandson Kim Jong Un the infamously hermetic nation appears to have decisively swerved on to the path of conspicuous consumerism.
Recent pictures obtained by The New York Times from foreign visitors to North Korea show a country that appears to bear a striking similarity to the rest of the world. They show a brightly coloured water park, coffee shops that mimic the interiors and products of South Korean and American cafes, and a home decor store bearing a strong resemblance — down to the products — to the Swedish furniture giant Ikea. This is a change that has been in the making for a while, a strategy that seems designed to distract from the chronic deprivations that continue to make life miserable for the vast majority of North Koreans; as per long-established protocol, none of the visitors was allowed to venture beyond a carefully curated list of glitzy venues designed to impress.
Meanwhile, across the DMZ, an actual Starbucks that opened late last year claims to offer a view of the real North Korea. As long as they are equipped with a pair of binoculars, visitors to the Aegibong Peace Ecopark in South Korea’s Gimpo city can peer at their northern neighbours going about their lives — a mere glimpse maybe, but one that could offer a fuller picture than the manicured images of Pyongyang that are allowed to tourists.