North Korean Denim

I recently came across an interesting article entitled "Jeans 'made in North Korea' set to hit store shelves in Sweden" from a Swedish news company, The Local. This article reports that a group of Swedish entrepreneurs are working to produce jeans from North Korea in an attempt to make contact with the isolated nation. These Noko jeans are priced at $226 dollars a piece.

My immediate response was in horror to think that these businessmen are profiting from the worst human rights abuses in the world. How will the North Korean people benefit from this business deal between the Swedes and the NK government? Noko Jeans curt statement, "No, it is not a sweatshop," does not seem very reassuring. At the same time, I just recently spoke with a NK humanitarian who stated that people are using various business ventures to make contact with North Koreans; close proximity to the people enables them to offer direct help, whether emotional, physical, or financial. While I can't help but be skeptical about Noko Jeans, my hope is that their motives are greater than they appear.

On a concluding note, as I read through people's comments to this article, I couldn't help but be impressed. I was happy to see that commenter, Bushido, was so aware of current human rights issues in NK and was able to look at the article critically. It's comforting to know that there is continued discourse on North Korea--not only on nuclear issues, but the human issues that so desperately need to be exposed.