North Korea is one of the most isolated states in the world (Image: Getty)
Wealthy parents in are spending a small fortune on for their children in a bid to increase their height, a report claims.
, a news outlet based in South Korea focused on the totalitarian state, reports that in the absence of reliable information, parents often rely on claims from vendors or word of mouth and are duped into buying ordinary health marketed as growth hormones – at a sizeable markup.
A source in South Pyongan province recently told the outlet that wealthy parents in Kaechon have recently been buying these for around 300 yuan (around £32).
And while that may not sound like an eyewatering sum amid the proliferation of pricey health products in the West, it’s a considerable outlay in , where 300 yuan is reportedly enough to buy 80-90 kilograms of rice at local markets.
People buying them are said to trust them because they’re foreign-made, though most can’t read the foreign language instructions and are unaware of what they contain or whether they even work.
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Among the most popular found on North Korean marketplaces are Chinese Omega-3 pills and products from the Dacudi line.
Though these supplements contain ingredients that can be beneficial for cardiovascular and brain health, they don’t have any proven effect on height, NK Daily explains.
The source said: “Products imported from are often misrepresented to customers based on what they want to hear. Buyers never suspect these expensive foreign products might be misrepresented.
“More people who’ve invested heavily in these supplements are now consulting experts for proper explanations. While customers are often surprised to learn the actual purpose of the drugs, they don’t feel cheated because the products still offer health benefits.”
[REPORT]
North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un (Image: Getty)
The boom in these misrepresented products has reportedly seen lower-cost alternatives appear too.
Travelling medicine vendors are alleged to be selling products marketed as “height-increasing medicine” and providing them cheaper than imported drugs to parents on lower incomes.
The source said what these “medicine sellers market as height-enhancement medicine is typically just multivitamins with sweet-and-sour flavouring.
They claimed that: “Nobody knows what these pills contain or where they come from,” adding, “They’re fleeting products that disappear from the market quickly.”
The authoritarian state has been under the brutal rule of the Kim dynasty since 1948, with more than half the country thought to live in poverty.
Information within North Korea’s borders is also closely controlled by state-owned media, with citizens monitored through mass surveillance programmes, as per .