Marketing In North Korea (27)

Why Brands Matter in North Korea: More than just propaganda

Jeon Byung-kil

Senior Consultant of YESInnovation

former of Secretary General of UniKorea Foundation

Exploring Brands: A Fun Way to Understand Society

To really understand a society, you need to connect with it. One great way to do that is by visiting its local markets. In these places, you’ll find people’s daily lives in action—buying and selling all kinds of things they need. And on every product, you’ll see names, symbols, or designs that help you tell them apart. These are called brands.

A brand is more than just a name or a logo. It represents the special qualities of a product or company and helps it stand out from others. The word "brand" actually comes from an old Norse word brandr, which means “to burn.” A long time ago, farmers would burn marks onto their cattle to show which ones belonged to them—kind of like an early brand!

Today, brands are used to help customers recognize and remember products. According to the American Marketing Association, a brand can be a name, phrase, design, symbol, or a mix of these. It’s something made to help people tell one seller’s products apart from another’s.

How Do You Create a Brand?

To build a brand, you need to do more than just give something a cool name. You have to ask questions like:

• What does this product do?

• What makes it different or special?

• Why should people care about it?

• How can we show its value to customers?

These questions help shape the brand's identity. And branding doesn’t only apply to physical things like phones or shoes—it can also apply to services, people, companies, places, and even ideas!

What’s the Difference Between a Brand and a Trademark?

When a brand is officially registered with a government office (like a patent or trademark office), it becomes a trademark. A trademark gives the owner legal rights to use that brand and protects it from being copied. This means no one else can legally use that exact brand without permission.

So, all trademarks are brands, but not all brands are trademarks.

In South Korea, the law defines a trademark as any sign, letter, or image that helps people tell one business’s products apart from another’s. The U.S. law says something very similar: a trademark is any word, name, or symbol used by a business to identify its goods.

Whether you're in Korea, the U.S., or anywhere else, brands and trademarks play a big role in how we shop, choose, and trust products. They also reflect the culture and values of the society they come from. By exploring brands, you’re not just learning about business—you’re learning about people, ideas, and the world around you.

Brands in North Korea: A New Direction

Did you know that even in a closed country like North Korea, brands are becoming important?

North Korea first created its trademark law in 1998, during a time known as the “Arduous March,” when the country faced a major economic crisis. According to the law, a trademark is a sign—like a name, symbol, number, color, or design—that helps people tell one product or service apart from another. This is pretty similar to how brands work everywhere else.

In the early 2000s, North Korea started talking about brands, but in its own way. A paper published by Kim Il Sung University of North Korea in 2000 said that brands were important because they make people want to buy something—especially for exports. The article also stressed the need to improve brand design and modernize how brands are used in business.

But back then, North Korea was still very wary of the outside world. They followed what’s called the “Mosquito Net Theory”—letting in only a small amount of outside influence while blocking most of it. So, in their writings, they made a clear distinction between capitalist and socialist brands. They said capitalist brands were flashy and used to trick people for profit, while socialist brands were about national pride and showing the people how good their government was.

A Shift in Thinking After 2012

Things started changing after Kim Jong-un came to power in 2012. North Korea stopped criticizing capitalist brands and began seeing brands as valuable tools for business. In a 2016 article, their main newspaper Rodong Sinmun even said that brands are now seen worldwide as one of a company’s most important assets.

By 2020, another article from the same newspaper noted that although products today are often similar in quality, brands still matter. They mentioned that brands help companies gain trust and stand out in the marketplace.

Why Brands Matter in Today’s North Korea

Since 2012, North Korea has been trying to manage brands more strategically. It’s starting to use marketing ideas to make its products—like food, medicine, and electronics—more appealing. These changes are not just about packaging. They show that North Korea is trying to grow its economy, boost exports, and create competitive local brands.

In this way, branding has become part of North Korea’s bigger goals: helping people feel proud of their country, strengthening the economy, and showing the world a better image of itself.

Brands are no longer just names or logos in North Korea—they are becoming tools for survival and growth. If the country wants to become more self-reliant and competitive globally, it needs to keep improving how it builds and manages brands. Brand strategy may just be one of the key paths for North Korea’s future.