It's with bliss and joy that I talk to you tonight about a land that could well be our homeland. It quite isn't, but I'm afraid that's not relevant. After the fiasco that its nuclear programme turned out to be, North Korea is now investing in another blissful project that promises to shake our world a bit: the Samtaeseong, North Korea's first fast food joint. Yes, that's right: You can now visit Pyongyang AND have fries with that!
For some reason, CBS' reporter wasn't allowed to talk in the establishment in order to avoid any sort of disorderly conduct, so I'm going to post an article along with the video. Not only they've finally opened a fast-food restaurant, they're now planning to build more of them across the country. Please, rejoice :)
People sit and have food at the country's first fast food restaurant, the Samtaeseong in Pyongyang, Thursday, July 30, 2009. North Korea's first fast-food restaurant has become quickly popular among the locals and foreigners in Pyongyang and plans to have branches in the future, a restaurant manager said Thursday. (AP Photo/APT)
quote:
NKorea plans to open more fast-food restaurants
(AP) – 10 hours ago
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea's first fast-food restaurant has quickly become popular among local residents and foreigners and plans to open branches in the future, a restaurant manager said Thursday.
North Korea opened the Samtaesong restaurant in its capital, Pyongyang, last month. It is the isolated communist nation's first fast-food restaurant and offers hamburgers, french fries, waffles and draft beer.
"Our restaurant specializes in serving popular food that's well-known throughout the world," manager Ko Jong Ok told broadcaster APTN in Pyongyang.
"It is not so long since its opening, but our restaurant has become popular among our people and foreigners," she added. "We are planning to set up branches in many places of the city in the future."
APTN footage showed restaurant staff in orange aprons and white hats preparing french fries and hamburgers. The restaurant appeared to be styled after fast-food joints the world over and several North Koreans were seen ordering and others eating. But more seats were empty than filled.
"I think it is very clean and I think every effort has been made to present the food very well," George Bottomley, a British visitor, told APTN.
North Korea calls hamburgers "minced beef and bread" in an apparent attempt not to give the impression that its citizens have embraced the American food icon.
And the North's ever-present propaganda was close at hand. On the wall of the building that houses the restaurant is a banner reading, "Long live the Songun (military-first) revolution ideology."
Songun is a key policy of authoritarian leader Kim Jong Il that calls for putting priority on the country's armed forces.
The minced beef and bread at the restaurant costs $1.70, according to the Choson Sinbo, a Tokyo-based newspaper considered a mouthpiece for Pyongyang.
That would eat up more than half of the average North Korean's daily income. South Korea's central bank put last year's average per capita income at $1,065.
Choson Sinbo reported last week on the opening of the restaurant, which it said occurred last month.
North Korea has relied on outside handouts to feed its hunger-stricken 24 million people since natural disasters and mismanagement devastated its economy in the 1990s. Its government strictly controls information about the outside world.
On Wednesday, North Korean state TV aired footage from South Korean television programs edited to highlight social and economic problems in the far richer South in a move apparently aimed at quashing rumors among the North's impoverished people that the rival country is better off.
Nostalgic
AzN PrYde
Sunsnail
your vast knowledge of post formatting humbles me.
Rose
Tell Ben.
Lira
quote:
Originally posted by Sunsnail
your vast knowledge of post formatting humbles me.
The damn video loves the quote box a tad bit too much, so I had to add a little bit of chaos to that :p
Lilith
Nostalgic
That's me up in the front.
lenazi
Lira
quote:
Originally posted by lenazi
lol, they love the cock, and the loves them back :D
lenazi
the funny thing is a lot of koreans absolutely love kfc like you could not imagine and they call it friend chicken too.
rT19
quote:
Originally posted by Nostalgic
That's me up in the front.
which 1 ? u all look the same :D
Nostalgic
quote:
Originally posted by rT19
which 1 ? u all look the same :D
