The luxury choices of political leaders around the world don’t often come under scrutiny because they aren’t made public — leaders don’t want their constituents to feel that they are favoring a particular luxury company or worse, wasting state resources on luxury goods. So it was interesting to see coverage of Kim Jong-Il’s luxury preferences on the Wall Street Journal’s Wealth Report blog recently. According to reports in the Chosun Ilbo, Jong-Il prefers Italian shoes by Moreschi and Martell Cognac. His suits are made from Scabal cashmere that costs $300 a yard (it takes 4 yards to make a suit) and he wears Omega watches. A North Korean defector said that his luxury consumption is so great that Jong-Il’s personal expenses take up 20% of North Korea’s budget. This may be hyperbole from a defector wishing to put Jong-Il in an unflattering light, but as Robert Frank notes, however much Jong-Il spends, it’s probably in stark contrast to what the average North Korean, who makes about $1900 a year, spends.

That Jong-Il is aware of such luxury brands within North Korea may be a sign of how pervasive global luxury marketing has become around the world.