McDonald’s hamburgers are among the many luxury items that North Korea’s elite are having flown in as the rest of the country subsists on meager rice rations, reports Singapore newspaper
The Straits Times.
The paper cites Beijing customs data that suggest luxury imports from China have doubled in the past year, despite reports that North Koreans are starving to death. North Korea is thought to have spent $10 million on foreign alcohol and tobacco, including $2.4 million worth of Hennessy cognac and $7.5 million on Marlboro and other cigarette brands. Other popular imported brands include Gucci, Rolex and Armani.
The most powerful figures in Pyongyang have McDonald’s food dropped off at their homes after flying it in from China on North Korean planes.
This has not stopped the communist nation from asking for foreign aid to feed its 24 million citizens, reports the Times.
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