Foreign laptops have become a new status symbol among North Korean high-ranking officials as more top-ranking North Korean elites can afford to buy costly foreign-made luxury items.

According to defector testimonies, the move marks a shift among North Korean’s upper classes towards mobile computing, as laptops from China, Japan and the West increasingly leak across North Korea’s borders.

“I think it is a luxury item for high-ranking officials. … similar to how [South] Koreans drive expensive cars to feel good and let loose a little,” Lee, a North Korean defector told NK News.

“People who have a lot of