NORTH KOREA—The North Koreans may live under one of the most repressive regimes in the world, but they still aspire to have the same normal everyday things that spoiled rich people in the West have, or want to have, like porn and poop, according to the Herald Sun.
At least that is the opinion of Kim Young-soo, a political science professor at Seoul's Sogang University, who told a conference Tuesday that adult videos, human excrement and skinny jeans are selling "like hot cakes" in North Korea.
That jeans and porn are desired by the North Koreans is no surprise, but the excrement? It turns out that the latter need is tied directly to the populace’s interest in survival.
Kim, who had interviewed several defectors recently, told the gathering that shops began selling human excrement to deal with acute shortages of fertilizer in North Korea, a country with severe food shortages.
"Each household used to use human excrement as fertilizer, but because it's hard to keep up with the amount, human manure shops showed up at markets," Kim said.
The skinny jeans became popular, he said, after a ban on fashionable trousers was lifted.
"Skinny jeans are now popular and are changing the fashion style of women in Pyongyang," he added.
He also said the defectors told him that TV dramas and instant noodles were very popular. Go figure.
