Advertisement

South Koreans flock to buy Kim Jong-un moisturising face masks

Kim Jong-un face masks are flying off the shelves - Social Media
Kim Jong-un face masks are flying off the shelves - Social Media

Bemused South Korean shoppers are rushing to buy novelty Kim Jong-un moisturising face masks ahead of a possible inaugural visit by the North Korean leader to the South’s capital, Seoul. 

Advertising for the “unification moisturising face masks” shows a picture of an impersonator of the young leader, laughing while wearing a white sheet over his facial features. Slogans tout the masks as being "wrinkle-resistant” and “water-resilient” nuclear bomb packs. 

The beauty products cost about four times the price of regular cosmetics – at 4,000 won (£2.80) – but are still reportedly flying off the shelves chalking up more than 25,000 sales since being launched by skincare company 5149 in June. 

One young woman told the Chosun Ilbo that she did not want to miss out on the latest trend. “I bought one because I thought it would be a hot topic if I took a picture of the mask pack and put it on social media,” said Jeon, an 18-year-old student. 

She joins a flurry of social media posts, where people have joyfully posed in the masks with friends, and YouTubers have given demonstrations on how to apply them. Online comments point to how “funny” the product is. 

“Customers are laughing just at the packaging,” said an employee of a downtown Seoul mall, describing the masks as having “good market appeal.”

The wafer-thin masks, some painted with dark-rimmed glasses, combine South Korea’s mutual fascinations with beauty products and the South’s blossoming political relationship with the North. 

The product claims to contain moisturising mineral water from Mount Paektu, a sacred active volcano on the border of North Korea and China, considered to be the birthplace of the founder of the first Korean kingdom. 

Korean customers are posing with the masks on social media - Credit: Social Media
Korean customers are posing with the masks on social media Credit: Social Media

The mountain’s symbolism was highlighted in September when Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, made an unprecedented trip there after a three-day summit in Pyongyang. 

Kwak Hyun-joo, the face mask’s creator told the Chosun that he had ambitions for his product to become more than just a reminder of the ongoing peace process, indicating that “a portion of the proceeds” would be donated to a planned North-South Korean railway project. 

“The North-South railway project is ongoing and we are waiting for the opportunity to raise funds,” he said, adding that the masks would soon be exported to Vietnam. 

The positive reception to the face masks gives a glimpse of the slow warming of public opinion towards Km, who was previously widely denounced in the South as an autocrat. 

Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump impersonators pose in Singapore, the location of a historic summit between the two leaders - Credit: Roslan Rahman/AFP
Kim Jong un and Donald Trump impersonators pose in Singapore, the location of a historic summit between the two leaders Credit: Roslan Rahman/AFP

Although anti-Kim protests are still expected, welcoming committees, learning the moves of North Korean dance troupes, are now preparing to greet the North’s leader if he comes on his first ever visit to Seoul. 

The tolerance of such groups also indicates that the government is relaxing its enforcement of South Korea’s 1984 National Security Act, which bars “praising, inciting or propagating the activities of an anti-government organisation”, presumably to improve relations with Pyongyang. 

A Kim Jong-un impersonator called Howard, was ejected from an ice hockey game during South Korea’s Winter Olympics in February after dancing in front of North Korean cheerleaders. 

However, so far, the South Korean authorities have not reacted to the widely popular mask, which no doubt would be badly received in the North, where Kim and his forefathers are revered like gods. 

Refugee organisations and conservative groups have also been critical of making a light-hearted gimmick out of the face of a regime known to oppress its citizens. 

“It is an insult to the suffering North Koreans to beautify a dictator,” one defector told the local media.   

Additional reporting: Jun-ho Lee in Seoul