North Korea exported about $725 million worth of clothing last year, according to South Korea’s trade-promotion agency, making it a significant source of income for the cash-strapped country. With the United Nations Security Council prohibiting North Korea from exporting labour and textiles, things will turn bad for the textile industry and more so for workers. As per economists, the country will be lose revenues to the tune of $800 million.
North Korea does not export fabrics instead produces labour-intensive articles of clothing, essentially it would be a garment ban that the country would face in times to come. Countering the decision, Paul Tjia, a Dutch consultant who helps businesses operate in North Korea, especially in the garment industry, said when you make simple clothes like T-shirts, the machinery is important. The labour is not so important, so it makes no sense to do things like this in North Korea. But for garments that require a lot of manual work, like bras or winter sports clothes, it makes a lot of sense to make those in North Korea because the price-to-quality ratio is very attractive.
It’s a known fact that all of North Korean-made clothes are exported through China, the onus lies on Beijing to enforce it. As Andray Abrahamian, a visiting scholar at University of California at Berkeley’s Center for Korean Studies, says if a container coming from North Korea says it contains sweet potatoes, is the Chinese customs department going to crack it open to check that it does not contain underpants? If Beijing is serious about stopping North Korea’s exports of apparel and workers to sew garments in Chinese factories, it would have a significant impact on the North’s economy. The reason this is important is not only because apparel exports are a significant number but because it’s the one non-resource area that’s really growing.
