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Wed, February 1, 2023 | 11:33
NK newspaper runs rare advertisements
북한 신문에 소비품 광고 등장
Posted : 2012-10-09 18:35
Updated :  
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The Pyongyang Sinmun, a North Korean newspaper, runs an advertisement for flower services in its Oct. 4th edition, according to the North’s Chosun Central TV, Tuesday. / Yonhap

By Kim Young-jin

A North Korean newspaper has in recent weeks run advertisements for clothes and other products in the latest sign of the Stalinist state attempting to update its economy.

The ads in the Pyongyang Sinmun include those for flowers and flowerpots; “hanbok” or traditional Korean dress; and a water-heating device using solar power. Analysts say new leader Kim Jong-un is tinkering with the economy after pledging to improve living conditions.

Kim, who took power in December, has commented on the need for the North’s economy to catch up with “global trends.” During a visit to a hosiery factory in July, he underscored the importance of trademarks in a rare reference to marketing.

That followed a call by a North Korean economic quarterly for promoting exports abroad through commercials. Such comments may have made room in the tightly-controlled state for advertising.

“It is part of economic testing,” said John Delury, an expert at Yonsei University. “It shows there is continuing trial and error going on.”

Despite an uptick in market activities in recent years, the North remains nearly void of ads, opting instead for propaganda extolling the ruling Kim family. Billboards for Pyeonghwa Motors, a joint venture between the North and the South Korea-based Unification Church are among its rare forays into advertisements.

But an increasing consumer culture has been taking root especially in Pyongyang mostly through cash earned through increased cooperation with China. Popularity is driven by a growing market culture approved by the regime.

Other changes have been made to give the North a more modern feel.

Pyongyang has long proclaimed 2012 as the year it would arrive as a “strong and prosperous” state and concentrated efforts to renovate the capital city with new apartments as well as shopping and recreation facilities. It has revamped its news broadcasts with computerized backdrops. Kim is often accompanied in public by his young wife.

Pyongyang has flirted with ads before. In 2009, the North's television aired commercials for the homegrown Taedonggang beer which were followed by those for products such as ginseng and quail. But amid rampant speculation that late leader Kim Jong-il was moving to introduce capitalist themes, the advertisements soon ceased and the regime’s point man on television was fired.

Speculation that the North would implement major changes spiked again last month when its rubber stamping parliament convened for a meeting amid reports that agricultural reform measures had been passed internally.

The meeting drew interest because it was widely regarded as “extraordinary” as it was the second gathering in a year after the parliament typically met once annually under the Kim Jong-il, the current leader’s late father.

But some experts say Kim Jong-un will likely hold two meetings a year, returning to style of his grandfather, country founder Kim Il-sung. The disappointment here over the lack of reform measures therefore may be overblown, they say.

Delury said the economic culture in the North was more likely to continue to “unfold gradually” rather than through sudden major reforms.

북한 신문에 소비품 광고 등장
사회주의를 고수하는 북한이 최근 신문에 의류 등 소비품 광고를 내보여 관심이 집중된다. 평양신문은 꽃과 화분, 한복, 태양열을 이용한 태양열물가열기 광고 등을 선보였다. 전문가들은 김정은 국방위원회 제1위원장이 경제발전을 꾀하고 있는 것이라 분석했다. 김정은은 그간 북한경제가 글로벌 트렌드를 따라갈 필요가 있다는 점을 언급해왔다. 북한의 경제분야 계간지 `경제연구'도 수출을 증대시키기 위해 광고의 역할이 중요하다고 이례적으로 강조한 바 있다. 연세대학교 국제학대학원 존 델러리 교수는 “경제적 시험이라고 할 수 있다”며 “여러 시행착오들이 계속 되고 있다는 것을 보여준다”고 밝혔다. 그간 북한의 광고는 일반 주민을 대상으로 한 상품 광고 대신 북한 지도부인 김씨 가문에 대한 선전이 주를 이뤄왔다. 하지만 중국과의 교류로 현금 흐름이 많아지면서 평양의 소비문화 역시 증가되는 추세를 보였다. 북한 현대화의 기운이 느껴지는 다른 변화들도 감지됐다. 북한은 2012년을 경제번영을 이루는 해로 만들겠다 선언한 뒤 수도인 평양에 아파트와 쇼핑센터 등을 짓는 등 쇄신에 집중해왔다. 김정은이 부인과 함께 대중 앞에 나서는 모습도 여러 차례 목격됐다. 2009년 대동강 맥주가 텔레비전 광고에 방송된 바와 같이 북한은 과거에도 몇 차례 광고를 내 보낸 적이 있다. 하지만 광고를 본 김정일 전 국방위원장이 화를 내면서 광고는 전면 중단됐고, 방송을 관장하는 차승수 조선중앙방송위원장도 해임됐다. 최근 북한에서 농업개혁 움직임이 포착되는 것도 북한이 큰 변화를 꾀하고 있다는 증거로 거론되고 있다. 김정일 정권 때 1년에 한 번 열리던 최고 위원회가 지난 달 두 번째로 개최된 것도 주목 받았다. 전문가들은 김정은이 할아버지인 김일성이 그랬듯 1년에 두 번 위원회를 열 것이라 내다봤다. 델러리 교수는 북한의 경제문화가 갑작스런 변화를 꾀하기 보다는 서서히 변화해 갈 것이라 전망했다.
Emailyjk@koreatimes.co.kr Article ListMore articles by this reporter
 
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