A four-year-old retail company which claims to be headquartered in Japan and has branches in South Korea and the United States recently opened the first ever foreign brand chain outlet in North Korea, pictures obtained by NK News confirm.

A branch of Miniso, a Uniqlo-style Japanese-Chinese low-cost retail brand that sells everything from umbrellas and humidifiers to computer mice and neckties recently opened on Pyongyang’s Ryomyong Street, a showcase development featuring over 3,000 new and refurbished apartments which was completed in April this year.

But the firm’s claims to have stores in the United States and a headquarters in Japan – despite