In South Korean home appliance market, Samsung may claim to have upper hand over its archrival LG. But, just across the DMZ, the situation is completely the opposite.
In the reclusive and isolated nation, LG rocks, according to a North Korean defector who currently lives in the South.
"I noticed that there was a Samsung banner at a preliminary World Cup soccer match held earlier this year in Pyongyang. I also saw a Samsung ad inside the Kim Il-sung Square. Indeed, Samsung is powerful. But when you look at the electronic appliances at North Korean homes, the situation is different," said Joo Seong-ha, in his blog attached to Dong-A Ilbo where he now works.
Joo said the fact that North Koreans know Samsung is a South Korean brand is a problem. When North Korean security apparatus discovers a Samsung brand during a home inspection, people fall into trouble. And inspectors use it as an excuse to extort money.
"But many people in North Korea don't know that LG is also a South Korean brand. They think it's a foreign brand such as Sony. So, even if people are found to have an LG product, they can claim that they didn't know that it was a South Korean product and can get away with it with less severe penalty," said Joo.
Even though North Korea is commonly regarded as a "closed" society, Joo said, considerably many Samsung and LG TV sets enter the country through China.
Surprisingly, the price for such TV sets in North Korea isn't too different from that in South Korea because the buyers tend to be the privileged wealthy class, he said.
To prevent the flow of South Korean electronic products, North Korea has started a registration system for TV sets since May this year. At the registration, officials threaten people to buy North Korean products next time, warning that if they may get registration permit if they buy foreign products again.
"But that wouldn't be a matter if people bribe the officials next time too," said Joo.
The irony is that many domestically produced TV sets sold in North Korea are in fact made in China. For example, the participants of the Arirang Festival, North Korea's premium mass game with 100,000 gymnasts, were given color TV sets, with a domestic brand name, "Arirang" attached to them. Joo points out that they were actually produced by the Chinese company, called Changhong.
After all, in the North Korean TV market, Joo said, LG outstrips Samsung. But in the category where registration is not required, such as computer and digital camera, "Samsung easily outshines LG," Joo said.
"North Koreans think that Samsung is better than LG. But people are reluctant to have Samsung in their homes because they are afraid of inspections," Joo said.
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