Apparently it’s OK to buy pistachios or hand-knotted carpets from Iran, a fully paid-up member of the Axis of Evil, but the first designer jeans made in North Korea — no way.

That’s the puzzling decision made by PUB, a long-established department store in Stockholm. And it's not because the jeans in question — black and in two basic styles — will make you look like "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il.

The Noko brand jeans went on sale last Friday in a standalone boutique in the store, a fact that received extensive media coverage. But the following day the retailer pulled the plug.

“For us this is not a question of Noko Jeans – this is a question about a political issue that PUB doesn’t want to be associated with,” said Rene Stephansen, the store’s director, as if behaving like an ostrich solved the problem. This is “not the forum” for discussing North Korea.

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