Mick Hartley

Another glimpse from the Daily NK into life in North Korea:

A growing number of North Koreans living in the China-North Korea border region are jumping into wig manufacturing to earn money, Daily NK has learned.

“In Sinuiju, some people have been staying up all night to make wigs these days. Depending on the size and weight, a single hairpiece can be bartered for five, eight, or even 12 kilograms of rice,” a source in North Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons. 

The profitability of wig-making has led some people to forgo doing business in markets and instead stay home and spend nights making wigs. Since business people can make more money from a night of wig-making than they can spending the whole day hawking their wares at markets, even market vendors are opting to make wigs, the source said. 

“On a good day, if you spent the whole day at the market, you might make KPW 3,000, which adds up to about KPW 20,000 each week. KPW 20,000 is enough to buy four kilograms of rice, but if you can make two wigs per week, you’ll earn at least enough to buy 10 kilograms of rice. Naturally, people are choosing to spend their nights wig-making rather than go out to the market.

“Even though it’s grueling work, the exhaustion is inconsequential in comparison to the amount of rice you can earn for your efforts,” the source added. 

However, not just anyone can make wigs. Aspiring wig-makers must first spend two weeks as apprentices and pass a test of their skills before they can begin receiving and filling orders for wigs.

“Technical supervisors at the provincial trade office are providing the apprenticeships and handing out orders to people who pass their inspections. They’re also the ones who receive the finished wigs, and they thoroughly inspect each wig themselves,” the source said. 

It almost sounds like….individual enterprise, albeit in a grim Dickensian kind of way.