Has China made LED bulbs stolen in North Korea?

According to foreign media reported on July 14th, more and more Koreans are buying Chinese made LED bulbs recently. Although LED bulbs are expensive, compared with traditional incandescent lamps, LED has high lighting efficiency and remarkable energy saving effect, which is undoubtedly the best choice for a country with serious electric power shortage. Therefore, people in general are willing to choose LED bulbs with high price but normal lighting at low voltage.

In November 2013, the DPRK reported that the DPRK's electricity was very scarce, and even 70% of the users' electricity could not be satisfied, which forced the public to find more energy-efficient alternative energy sources. A North Korean people who do not want to be named said: "recently, the number of Korean people buying LED bulbs has increased dramatically, and inland businesses are competing to buy LED bulbs from the border cities between China and DPRK."

In February 2014, a report from the DPRK official said that the lighting manufacturers in all parts of the country were producing LED lighting products with sufficient horsepower. More and more family lighting and public lighting began to adopt LED lamps. Hotels and buildings have also installed LED lamps and lanterns. However, the report does not talk about whether the current production schedule can fully meet the demand for new lighting products. Therefore, the Korean people's rush to buy the Chinese made LED bulbs has never declined.

According to some sources, the popularity of LED lights in North Korea is due to the lack of electricity in North Korea, which does not provide the 220V voltage required for the normal operation of general household appliances, but the LED lamps can normally be illuminated under low voltage conditions. In the peak summer period, the average household voltage in North Korea was only 170V, which was even lower in winter to 100V. Incandescent lamps are difficult to provide normal lighting at lower than 220V voltage, and LED lamps are different. Even if the voltage is below 70V, it can still be illuminated normally. Therefore, although the price of LED lamps is two times higher than that of incandescent lamps, the DPRK people are happy to buy LED lamps.

According to the US energy department's report, another advantage of LED lamps is its long service life. High power LED lamps generally have a life span of 50000 hours. Compared with incandescent lamps with only 2000 hours of life and 15000 hours of fluorescent lamps, LED lamps have a prominent life expectancy.

Another source said that in the Korean market, the price of incandescent lamp is about 3 yuan, and the price of LED lamp varies, mainly depending on its appearance. For example, the LED bulb that can be directly swirled into the ordinary lampholder sells for more than 10 yuan. Nowadays, LED bulbs are quite popular in North Korea, at least one family. (translated by /LEDinside Flora)

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