North Korea’s richest people live a lifestyle that might put Donald Trump and Bill Gates to shame. The country reached at least 1 million “elites” under Kim Jong Un.
The findings by Park Sung-jo, an economist at Free University Berlin in Germany, show that while the majority of the country live in the dark and on rice or scraps, these elites live lavishly:
Their average net worth is $50,000 and they typically own Samsung televisions and household pets imported from China.
Elites also have access to lavish dining options in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. The restaurants in question charge $70 for Korean barbecue, $8 for Korean bibimbap, or rice mixed with meat and vegetables, though prices cited were for foreign tourists and not locals, reported South Korea’s Kyunghyang Sinmun.
In September, the World Food Program reported that the country’s “food ration for August was only 250 grams per person per day.”
The roads are so empty in Pyongyang that North Korea employs traffic directors instead of stoplights. Pictures from tourists and journalists show mostly empty roads. But Park insists “there are currently 5,000 BMWs, 1,500 used Nissans.” The rich purchase apartments for $200,000.
Recently, reports indicated the rich enjoy the simple baguette. While the majority of Americans can purchase a baguette at any grocery store for under $2, this bread is a luxury item in the brutal kingdom. The regime attempted to send North Korea’s top chefs to France’s acclaimed “Ecole Nationale d’Industrie Laitiere, which specializes in the hard mountain cheeses” Kim Jong-Un prefers over other cheeses. The head of the school turned them down. There is no report if Kim Jong-Un succeeded in sending the chefs to schools to learn about making the perfect baguette.
KCNA, the regime’s media agency, reported a new online mall for the North Korean elite, which allows them to shop among the countries “companies and manufacturers.”