Choco pie

A choco pie is a snack cake consisting of two small round layers of cake with marshmallow filling and a chocolate covering. The term originated in the United States but is now also used widely in South Korea, Japan, and countries to which it exports, and many other countries as either a brand name or a generic term. Names for similar confections in other places include chocolate marshmallow pie, Wagon Wheels, angel pie (in Japan), and moon pie.

A choco pie is a snack cake consisting of two small round layers of cake with marshmallow filling and a chocolate covering. The term originated in the United States but is now also used widely in South Korea, Japan, and countries to which it exports, and many other countries as either a brand name or a generic term. Names for similar confections in other places include chocolate marshmallow pie, Wagon Wheels, angel pie (in Japan), and moon pie.

North Korea

In the early 2010s, exports of choco pies to North Korea were reportedly very popular, with North Korean workers at the Kaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea receiving choco pies in lieu of cash bonuses, which were seen as too capitalistic. Prior to the closing of the complex during the 2013 Korean crisis, workers received choco pies, which had become a favorite snack at Kaeseong (개성시) and also a symbol of capitalism, in addition to their wages. However, the workers at Kaeseong (개성시) would often resell their pies on the black market. In 2010, The Chosun Ilbo reported that choco pies could fetch as much as US$9.50 on the North Korean black market. Between 2008 and 2014, the Lotte corporation estimated that it sent 1.2 million boxes of Choco Pie to North Korea. In the wake of tensions surrounding its nuclear tests, the North Korean government temporarily shut down the Kaeseong (개성시) complex in 2013. This cut the supply of choco pies and drove the price in North Korea even higher. When the complex resumed operations after a five-month halt, employers were forbidden from paying choco pie bonuses, and advised to instead give bonuses of "sausages, noodles, coffee and chocolate". North Korea also responded to the choco pie speculation by producing its own variant of the snack. In 2014, South Korean activists used helium balloons to launch 10,000 choco pies over the border to North Korea. Artist Jin Joo Chae made the controversy a subject of her prints and sculptures the same year, printing, with chocolate, real and imagined Choco Pie slogans onto North Korean newspapers and simulating a black market for the snack in the gallery.

Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1328335709 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.