Market traders in North Korea are increasingly taking on home-based piecework to supplement their earnings, with vendors in Hyesan turning to wig and eyelash manufacturing after market income alone proved insufficient to cover basic living costs.
A Daily NK source in Ryanggang province said Tuesday that the number of people in Hyesan making wigs, false eyelashes, and straw hats for outside contractors has grown noticeably in recent months. Market vendors, already working long days at their stalls, have begun taking on the work in the evenings to bring in additional income. Adults and children alike are participating.
Jangmadang, the informal markets that emerged during North Korea’s famine years in the 1990s, have long served as the primary means of survival for millions of North Koreans outside the formal state economy. Vendor stalls at these markets are treated as privately held assets, passed down within families or sold, and represent one of the few sources of income not directly controlled by the state.
One day’s work, barely enough to eat
Piecework pay rates have risen modestly. The source said the going rate for producing 100 eyelashes has increased from roughly 3,000 to 5,000 North Korean won previously to between 5,000 and 10,000 North Korean won at present, depending on thickness and complexity. But the improvement in nominal wages has not translated into better living standards. Food prices have risen sharply, and the source said the real purchasing power of those earnings has actually declined.
Market income has deteriorated alongside prices. The source said that on a good day, a market vendor earns enough to buy one kilogram of rice, while on an average day the earnings cover only around 500 grams of corn. Vendors go without a single sale roughly one day in five. “In that situation, people are grateful to have piecework on the side and will stay up all night if there is even a little money to be made,” the source said.
The pressures of poverty have pushed some families to keep children out of school. One woman in her 50s in Hyesan, who took in her late brother’s child after he died of illness earlier this year, is managing a market stall while also doing wig and eyelash piecework alongside her niece. The source said the woman cannot afford to send the child to school and has the girl working alongside her instead.
Despite the hardship, market vendors are not giving up their stalls. The source explained that vendors view their market position as the foundation of their survival, not simply a place of business. For many, the markets represent the institution that kept their families from starvation after the state public distribution system collapsed in the 1990s. Giving up a stall, even during the leanest periods, feels like abandoning that foundation entirely.
The woman in Hyesan told the source she sometimes thinks about selling her stall on days when she makes no sales, but has not been able to bring herself to do it after nearly 30 years. “The market is what kept people from dying of hunger after the rations stopped,” the source said. “For vendors, a stall is not just a business spot. It is the base on which their lives have been built.” The source added that most vendors are holding on, working piecework jobs on the side while waiting for market conditions to improve.
Reporting from inside North Korea
Daily NK operates networks of sources inside North Korea who document events in real-time and transmit information through secure channels. Unlike reporting based on state media, satellite imagery, or defector accounts from years past, our journalism comes directly from people currently living under the regime. We verify reports through multiple independent sources and cross-reference details before publication.
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May 22, 2026 at 02:03AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)