From: NKNews
N.Korean tobacco tear-inducingly strong to Southerners, N.Koreans find S.Korean tobacco unmanly
Michelle Lee
Before the Arduous March of 1996-99, North Koreans smoked only locally produced cigarettes, but since the late 1990s foreign cigarettes have been smoked in North Korea. Recently, there have been reports that Kim Jong Un ordered his officials not to smoke foreign-produced tobacco and to show one’s patriotic loyalty by using locally produced tobacco only. North Korean officials usually take such instructions seriously, at least for the first couple of months after the instructions are issued. However, the smuggling of foreign cigarettes across the Chinese border has been big business in North Korea, and it is not going to die off overnight.
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However, the majority of North Koreans who do not smoke factory-produced cigarettes smoke roll-ups. There are also private workshops producing cigarettes, and such counterfeit cigarettes are usually packaged as if they had been produced in large factories. These small workshops are mainly run by people who have experience working in government factories and who know something about tobacco production.
