North Korea exports nearly 37 metric tons of wigs and hairpieces to China
Niche products responsible for over half of exports in December, while DPRK’s imports of medicine continue to decline

North Korea exported nearly 37 metric tons of wigs, fake beards and eyelashes to China in Dec. 2022, making up over half of the country’s total exports in the strongest-ever month for one of the DPRK’s more niche industries.
According to Chinese customs data, the hair exports were worth nearly $9 million. By comparison, the sum of all the DPRK’s hair exports between 2017, when China began publishing customs statistics, and last November was $6.8 million.
The unusual spike in fake hair exports easily eclipsed the DPRK’s usual top commodities such as ferro-silicon, tungsten