When many years ago I heard, for the first time, lamentations by Pyongyang about the economic sanctions imposed on them by the vicious U.S., my first reaction was of surprise. Sanctions presuppose a ban on trade, I thought, but can North Korea really trade?

Having spent my university years in the Soviet Far East (the most active region of Russia in terms of trade with the DPRK) I remember three types of North Korean goods on the shelves of Soviet stores.

First, there were nashi pears. In my local store I was probably the only customer who ever bought them,