NORTH KOREA
North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that the government has taken steps to restrict the import of foreign-made tobacco products and to revise the country’s Tobacco Control Law.
The Tobacco Control Law, which had been adopted in July 2005, has been amended four times. The latest rules are also appearing to ban the release of new brands of cigarettes through new restriction on the “agreement and approval of the production of tobacco products with new names.”
The country currently has multiple tobacco manufacturers, with one of the most prominent being the Naegohyang Tobacco Factory, which produces the 7.27, Chonji, and Gohyang brands, among others.
Last year the US Treasury Department accused Pyongyang of earning up to US$1 billion a year in the illicit cigarette trade.