Kim Jong-Un spends £122,000 on imported sexy underwear for the wives, girlfriends and 'Pleasure Squad' of North Korea's elite – as well as £2.7 million of spirits, £38,000 of cheese and £203,000 of pinball machines

North Korean despot Kim Jong-Un has spent £122,000 on luxury women's underwear in a year as his population suffers from poverty, data shows.

Trade figures show that the Hermit Kingdom has a shipment of bras, girdles, corsets, suspenders, suspenders and garters in 2022, the most recent year of data available.

Of 60 percent of the population estimated to live in absolute poverty, racy lingerie is likely destined for the wardrobe of the country's small elite and so-called A 'Pleasure Squad' of 2,000 women and girls is said to have been hired to provide entertainment for officials and guests.

The elusive upper echelons also enjoyed some £2,675,000 worth of spirits and liqueurs, mainly from key trading partner China. And North Koreans could gain access to £12.6 million worth of tobacco products imported in 2022, including cigars, cigarettes and cigarillos.

Champagne, however, was reserved for a small minority, with sparkling wine imports worth just £15,000, combined with just under £38,000 worth of Chinese cheese.

And at the end of a long day, senior officials can relax with a game of pinball, with the country importing around £203,000 worth of video game consoles and board games – as ordinary citizens do. report food is so scarce that their neighbors are starving.

Yet the £122,000 spent on underwear is small, compared to the £2.7 million dropped in 2016.

North Korea is said to have imported a huge amount of pants from China, doubling the 2015 record for the Kippumjo, or “Pleasure Squad.”

Defectors have spoken candidly about the gruesome reality of the collectives “maintained” by generations of North Korean leaders, who are expected to provide sexual entertainment to senior party officials and their families, as well as foreign guests.

Some claim that the girls are even plucked from classrooms – some as young as 13 – and subjected to medical tests to check if they are virgins before being forced into a life of sexual servitude.

Defectors have spoken of attending drunken sex parties where women would have their pubic hair shaved as a forfeit if they lost matches.

Trade data shows that North Korean elites still have a small amount of luxury goods, while the broader population survives on average wages as low as £4.40 per day.

Sweet-toothed North Koreans imported £2.1m worth of chocolate in 2022 – a rebound to pre-pandemic peaks after falling to just £738,000 in 2020 and £566,000 in 2021. Belgium and Germany once shared small amounts of cocoa products, the data shows, but North Korea is now completely dependent on China.

Beer is also making a comeback, with the £113,000 spent in 2021 dwarfed by a paltry £7,000, but that's a far cry from the £10.8 million spent in 2019.

It was not clear what was happening in North Korea as the population spent just £80,000 on imported toilet paper in 2022, after £675,000 in 2020 and £1.13 million in 2019. Data for 2021 was not available.

Looking at the cuisine, the figures suggest that North Koreans may have dabbled in foreign cuisines by 2022, importing £521,000 worth of pasta. Italy itself imported £90 million in the same year.

Pineapple on pizza was likely out of the question in both countries, as North Korea recorded no imports of pineapple, avocados or mangoes in 2022. Brazil previously shared small amounts of fruit.

Surprisingly, North Korea also appeared to give up the melon trade in 2022 and record no imports – down from £73,000 in 2020, £2.66 million in 2019 and £2.77 million in 2018.

There was also little room for entertainment in the North Korean economy. Around £2,000 was spent on festival/carnival entertainment including magic tricks and novelty pranks – down from £61,000 in 2019.

Possibly related, the country stopped importing German sausages in 2022 after finding a small market worth £9,000 in 2018.

Confectionery also proved unpopular, accounting for just £86,000 of imports.

However, North Korea did import some games and spent £203,000 on foreign video game consoles/board games (such as pinball machines) in 2022.

Children could use some of the imported modeling paste worth £14,000, which was used for children's entertainment and dentistry.

Musical virtuosos were lost and could only import £4,000 worth of stringed instruments (guitars, violins etc), compared to £201,000 in 2018.

Readers also didn't feel like doing anything. Data showed that North Korea bought an estimated £1,000 worth of Polish newspapers and magazines in 2019 – and never imported anything again.

China provided the country's elite with perfume worth around £46,000 but has stopped exporting luxury foreign wristwatches, data shows. In 2018, the country sold North Korea to watches worth just £31,000 – worth less than some top Swiss watches – and subsequently stopped registering any trade.

North Korea imported £729,871,000 worth of products from China in 2022 – 98.1 percent of the value of all items.

That figure was higher than 2021 (£188,000,000) and 2020 (£382,000,000), but well below 2018 figures (£1.66 billion).

Britain's total product imports in 2022 were calculated at £665,635,859,000.

These figures do not include trade in services.

Most products purchased from foreign suppliers came from China, followed by the US, Germany, Norway, France, Italy and the Netherlands.

Britain exported £432,570,855,000 worth of products in the same year, the data shows.

These mainly went to the US, the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, China, Switzerland and France.

In contrast, North Korea exported around £253,995,000 worth of goods in 2022, mainly to China, Senegal and Aruba in the Caribbean Sea.

Data on North Korea collected by Trading card is based on bilateral trade flows reported by the country's trading partners.