Kim Jong-un’s sister seen holding $7,000 Dior bag

According to a picture released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo-jong was holding the black bag with quilting patterns like that of the Lady Dior bag currently being sold via Dior’s official website. Kim accompanied her brother on his trip to Russia.

It is not the first time that the Kim family appeared in public brandishing foreign luxury goods.

During North Korea’s Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile test launch in March, Kim Jong-un’s daughter, Kim Ju-ae, was seen wearing a $1,900 black coat, also presumed to be from Dior. Kim Jong-un himself was seen wearing a watch from Swiss manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen worth $13,400 during a military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of its ruling Worker's Party in 2020.

In a photograph from the Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo-jong (third from right), the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (center), can be spotted holding a $7,000 Dior luxury bag during a visit to the Yuri Gagarin Aviation Plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia, Friday. (Yonhap)

In recent years, there has been a surge in demand for luxury goods in North Korea. In the past, that has been limited to the Kim family’s bloodline, but recently, several North Korean elites have also had access to purchasing international high-end brands.

Kim Ju-ae (left), daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, is seen wearing a $1,900 black coat from Dior during the Hwasong-17 ICBM test launch in March. Kim Jong-un is seen wearing a $13,400 watch from Swiss luxury watch manufacturer IWC Schaffhausen during the military parade celebrating the 75th anniversary of its ruling Workers Party in 2020. (Korean Central News Agency, Korean Central Television)

State-owned shops in Pyongyang are reportedly selling luxury goods by receiving US dollars from customers and giving North Korean won as change. According to UN Security Council Resolution 2270, luxury brands are explicitly banned for imported into North Korea, but the Kim family allegedly has a separate entity that procures luxury goods and food for them.

Meanwhile, the Kim family’s love for luxury brands has been met with heavy criticism outside its borders, especially following the BBC’s report on North Koreans starving to death due to food scarcity in June. The National Intelligence Service told the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee that due to intensified food shortages in North Korea, the number of those who have died due to starvation tripled compared to previous years.

Lee Jung-joo

The Korea Herald

Asia News Network