Stockholm ? A Stockholm department store on Saturday removed a new line of North Korean-made designer jeans from its shelves, saying it wants to avoid courting controversy through ties with the isolated communist nation.

The PUB department store’s management had not been informed that the label would be carried in its space, and pulled the plug when it became aware of it, said Rene Stephansen, the store’s director.

The Noko Jeans line is the brainchild of three Swedish entrepreneurs who hoped their label would help break North Korea’s isolation through increased trade with the West.

The jeans come only in black, partly because blue jeans are associated with the U.S. and are stigmatized in North Korea.