The 'made in North Korea' designer denims have garnered much media attention and customers flocked to PUB on Saturday to get their hands on the jeans, which retail for around 1,500 Swedish kronor (150 euros, 226 dollars) a pair.

Jaget claimed at least 15 customers showed up during the normally quiet morning hours to buy the denims, which are black, because North Koreans "usually associate blue jeans with America," making them "a little bit taboo," according to Noko Jean's Ohlsson.

Noko Jeans says the assembly of the pants -- the cut, the make and trim -- is all done in North Korea.

It hopes to change things in the country, often criticised for its poor human rights record, by producing jeans there.

The communist state, all but cut off from foreign influence for the past 60 years, "has been isolated for so long and ethically, we thought that any sort of increased contact with the outside world would be good," Ohlsson said. "I sincerely hope (PUB) will remove everything labelled 'made in China' as well," he said Saturday.

The entrepreneurs, who have visited North Korea twice, claim the working conditions at their Pyongyang-area factory are better than those of a previously visited Chinese plant.

"When we arrived in North Korea in 2008, we expected worse but were rather happily surprised to see a clean factory, lots of space," Noko Jeans said, adding it stayed in North Korea for 10 days to control the application of a business code of conduct based on European standards.