Foie gras, puppies, water parks: North Korea gets a glow-up

Coffee bars. Water parks. Retail therapy. ⁠North Korea – a country few would associate with leisure or pleasure – is experiencing an ⁠unlikely outbreak of fun.

Leader Kim Jong-un, himself no stranger to indulgence, is orchestrating new ways for his citizens to spend ⁠their wealth. North Korea’s imports of massage equipment have surged 40-fold over the past decade, according to Chinese customs data. Treadmill shipments jumped over 600 per cent. Pianos and even bumper cars are pouring in, too.

The consumption drive extends to luxury malls, beach resorts and ski destinations that are popping up around North Korea, according to a review of trade statistics and state media reports, and interviews with five recent visitors and two defectors.

It’s not just about expanding access to life’s little luxuries, analysts say. By channelling personal spending through state-controlled leisure and retail networks, Kim strengthens government control of commerce, squeezes informal markets and unlocks new sources of revenue and growth for the nuclear-armed country.

The strategy drew “the production, distribution and capital flows concentrated in the markets into an official economic space managed by the state,” said ‌Kang Seong-hyeon, a research fellow at the Seoul-based Hyundai Research Institute think tank.

Avenues for consumption have proliferated even as North Korea faces heavy UN sanctions – including on luxury goods, energy and mineral trade – designed to impede Kim’s weapons programme. North Korea’s economy grew 3.5 per cent in 2025, a third consecutive year above 3 per cent, the South Korean central bank said in July.