Ginseng cosmetics sales picking up in N. Korea: official Web site

By Kim Hyun

SEOUL, March 25 (Yonhap) -- Anti-aging skin care products, especially those made using ginseng, are growing fast in popularity in North Korea, the country's official Web site said Wednesday.

The cosmetics brand "Scent of Spring," produced by the Sinuiju Cosmetics Factory
in the North Korean city from which it takes its name -- near the border with
China -- has won several medals in international events and has been acknowledged
as "the best" by many Western countries like Britain, France and Germany,
Uriminzokkiri claimed.
The products were once sold in South Korea.
"Riding on the development of society, various anti-aging cosmetics are making
inroads into the market, and public interests in them are increasing day by day,"
the Web site said.
"Those who want to live in the bloom of youth are demanding natural cosmetics of
better quality that would make their skin beautiful," it said, "The 'Scent of
Spring' is gaining favor with customers as an ideal natural cosmetics brand."
The Web site said the ingredients are extracted from Kaesong ginseng, a herbal
root and the country's representative product, which is thought to improve health
and boost energy. The skin care line "vitalizes dermal fibroblasts, keeps the
skin tender and moist, energizes blood circulation in the skin and prevent
wrinkles," it said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il made a field tour to the Sinuiju factory, one of
the largest in the country along with the Pyongyang Cosmetics Factory in the
capital, in November.
Scent of Spring cosmetics were available in South Korea last year. A Seoul-based
Internet shopping mall that sells North Korean products, NK Mall, had directly
imported the ginseng skin toner, according to staff member Choi Dong-ho. Sales
were suspended this year, he said.
"Those who knew about it bought it. We didn't promote it much because cosmetic
products are only a minor part of our sales," Choi said. He could not give sales
figures.