Foreign cigarettes on sale in North Korean capital despite COVID border controls | NK News
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September 19, 2026Sep 19, 2026

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Foreign cigarettes on sale in North Korean capital despite COVID border controls

New photos show American, Chinese and Japanese brands at Pyongyang shops, raising questions about how they entered DPRK

Foreign-brand cigarettes remain available for purchase in the North Korean capital, despite the country’s strict pandemic border controls, photos recently obtained by NK News show.

The U.S. cigarette brand Lark, Chinese brand Septwolves White and Japanese brand SevenStars were all on sale in one Pyongyang store, according to a photo taken in spring 2022. 

Other photos seen by NK News reveal multiple 200-count cartons of SevenStars — one of the most popular foreign brands in the DPRK — on offer at another location earlier this summer.