Pyongyang, North Korea
Dictator Kim Jong Il will have to do without iPods, Segways, and Jet Skis from now on. Those are just a few of the items the State Department listed this week as products the U.S. will no longer export to North Korea. The U.N. Security Council banned exports of luxury goods to North Korea two months ago, after the regime tested a nuclear weapon, but it didn't define what counts as a luxury. So the U.S. has made a list, which also includes Cognac, crystal, and Chanel No. 5. The ban is intended to sap the morale of Kim's inner circle. Kim rules by a system of reward and punishment, showering loyal generals and party bosses with expensive presents and shipping contrarians off to the labor camps. Most North Koreans are destitute and malnourished.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Biggest political break-ups and make-ups of 2025The Explainer From Trump and Musk to the UK and the EU, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a round-up of the year’s relationship drama
-
Why 2025 was a pivotal year for AITalking Point The ‘hype’ and ‘hopes’ around artificial intelligence are ‘like nothing the world has seen before’
-
The best drama TV series of 2025the week recommends From the horrors of death to the hive-mind apocalypse, TV is far from out of great ideas
