hankyoreh

A sign put up by Lotte Department Store at the venue for a sale of Kaesong Industrial Complex’s tentant companies at around 11 am on Feb. 23

A “grand bazaar” of fashion from the Kaesong Industrial Complex was in full swing on the morning of Feb. 23 at Lotte Department Store in Seoul. Many of the items on the racks set up around the hall were labeled as coming from other countries: China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and Myanmar. Items produced at Kaesong and labeled as “made in Korea” were relatively scarce. Indeed, a count of places of origin for items on display there showed roughly six to seven out of every ten marked as being made overseas rather than in Korea.

Lotte Department Store has billed the bazaar, which is taking place from Feb. 21 and 25, as a way of helping companies hurt by the complex‘s recent shutdown. Participants are tenant companies from the complex that are also partners of the department store. According to the department store, fourteen partners and around 30 brands are participating in the events at its main and Yeongdeungpo branches.

But more of the products sold by garment companies that employed the Kaesong tenants were produced overseas rather than at Kaesong. In the case of Kolon Sports, only a few of its down jackets are Kaesong products, while other jackets and mountain boots were made in Vietnam. NEPA has “made in Korea” mountain boots, but its mountain-climbing jackets and goose jackets were made in Vietnam and Myanmar, respectively. K2 also has Korean-made mountain boots, but the labels on its mountain-climbing pants and jackets read “Indonesia” and “Vietnam,” respectively.

The situation was similar for items sold by Shinwon, In The F, Third, and Cotton Club: only some were produced at the Kaesong Complex, while most were made in China, Bangladesh, Vietnam, or the Philippines.

“I came because I expected the items made at the Kaesong Complex to be cheap, but that doesn’t seem to be the case,” said one consumer picking out a mountain-climbing jacket that day. The consumer tilted his head as he looked at the tag of one item marked “made in Vietnam.”

Also part of the Kaesong-billed bazaar were five women’s wear brands that bear no connection to the complex at all: Ribbon, Ribedo, BeliSian, Dolce Vita, and Mariani. Their presence seems to raise questions about the bazaar’s name.

“The five women‘s wear brands took the place of Shinwon men’s wear brands that took part at the start of the event but weren’t included as of this week,” explained a Lotte Department Store source.

“Those brands were originally scheduled for an event during this period before we decided to hold the Kaesong Complex bazaar,” the source added.

Yet Sisbro, a joint brand produced in Kaesong by tenant companies, wasn’t included in the bazaar. Neither the Kaesong Complex Store, which selling items from the complex. Both Sisbro and the store said they never received invitations from Lotte Department Store to take part.

“Sisbro and the Kaesong Complex Store have been badly hurt and can‘t even get just compensation, and now we don’t even have a market, so things are looking very bleak,” said a source with Sisbro.

“It’s infuriating to see the hiring companies, which suffered relatively little damage and have strong distribution networks, are now selling items made overseas under the ‘Kaesong’ label,” the source said.

In response, the department store said it planned the event to sell inventory items as a “mutual benefit and cooperation gesture to help circulate funds for our partner businesses that produce items at the Kaesong Complex through hiring or subcontracting arrangements and were hurt [by the shutdown].”

“This is not an event for selling only items produced at the Kaesong Complex. And with margins lowered by as much as 20 percentage points, it wasn’t intended to turn a profit either,” the store added.

After the Hankyoreh began investigating the story, Lotte Department Store put up a sign at the event’s venue at around 11 am on Feb. 23.

“Please be aware that the current event for the Ribbon, Ribedo, BeliSian, Dolce Vita, and Mariani brands is not associated with the Kaesong Complex Bazaar. We regret any confusion this may have caused for our shoppers,” it read.

By Yoon Young-mi, senior staff writer

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