North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, often pictured as a ruthless dictator, is sending shockwaves across the neighbouring country’s beauty market. The “Unification Moisture Nuclear Masks”, launched by local skincare manufacture 5149, has swept off the shelves in South Korea, known for its booming skincare industry, the South China Morning Post reports.
The outlet, citing South Korean media, reports that retailers have sold more than 25,000 packages, which cost $3.5 per mask.
The cosmetic hit, dubbed a “nuke mask” features a portrait of Kim Jong-un with a white cloth on his face along with authoritarian-styled slogans such as “All hail moisture for all women of the North and South!” and “Paektu Mountain spring water makes skin strong!”
The product is said to contain thermal water from Mount Paektu on the border of China and North Korea, where Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a summit in September and posed for a historic photo.
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Many satisfied buyers have shared pictures of the mask, calling Kim, often referred to as a dictator and tyrant, “cute”. Incidentally, "inciting or propagating the activities of an anti-government organisation" or praising the DPRK’s government is prohibited in South Korea.
According to South Korean broadcaster JTBS, Kim is expected to visit Seoul on December 18-20. If the visit takes place at any time in the future, it will be the first such visit by a North Korean leader to South Korea since the division of the peninsula in 1945.
During the latest inter-Korean summit in September, the North Korean leader announced that he had agreed to visit the neighbouring country’s capital "in the near future”. South Korean President Moon later said that the visit was expected to take place this year.
September's summit was the third meeting between Kim and Moon. The two parties signed a military agreement to cease large-scale artillery exercises and military flights near the demilitarised zone at the border between the two Koreas.