North Korea's patriotic producers of cigarettes | NK News
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October 09, 2026Oct 09, 2026

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North Korea’s patriotic producers of cigarettes

N.Korean tobacco tear-inducingly strong to Southerners, N.Koreans find S.Korean tobacco unmanly

Before the Arduous March of 1996-99, North Koreans smoked only locally produced cigarettes, but since the late 1990s foreign cigarettes have been smoked in North Korea. Recently, there have been reports that Kim Jong Un ordered his officials not to smoke foreign-produced tobacco and to show one’s patriotic loyalty by using locally produced tobacco only. North Korean officials usually take such instructions seriously, at least for the first couple of months after the instructions are issued. However, the smuggling of foreign cigarettes across the Chinese border has been big business in North Korea, and it is not going to die