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Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
- TechDebtDevin 2y agoNot sure how comfortable id be ordering from one of these resturaunts as an American.
- unixhero 2y agoWhy are you special in this regard?
- 867-5309 2y agoportion sizes
- ahoka 2y agoProbably could put you on all kinds of security risk lists.
- jajko 2y agoI would rather stay away from russian or maybe chinese restaurants if westerner, those are actual enemies. Or just dont care, dont get seduced by random women out of your league and you will be fine. And if you mean US security risk lists well thats on US current paranoia coming from hard attempts of current government to make whole world hate US, nothing rest of the world cares much.
- xeromal 2y agoSince NK is under sanctions by the US, I supposed you wouldn't want to give them any money for goods or services. It could blow back
- joecool1029 2y agoI've had Pyongyang soju when it was sold in the US around a decade or so ago, it was ok: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/north-korean-alcohol-imported-america-144203612.html https://finance.yahoo.com/news/north-korean-alcohol-imported... Bought it as a curiosity since I had never seen anything sold from DPRK before and it was just randomly at a liquor store. I guess the importer ended up getting arrested under FARA and you can't buy it anymore.
- unixhero 2y agoAha now I understand. But how does us tourists to PyongUang deal with this typically? Or rather how should it be solved?
- patman81 2y agoThe article is from 2016. Did anyone find out if the restaurant is still open?
- larrysalibra 2y agoYes, it’s still open. 10am to 9:30pm every day. https://surl.amap.com/ooIMl6hgaqj https://surl.amap.com/ooIMl6hgaqj
- xvilka 2y agoThe article is from 2016, it's aeons ago, given the pace of Shanghai. I wonder, if this place still operates in 2025.
- morsch 2y agoSeems that way. A review from ten months ago mentions the restaurant. https://maps.app.goo.gl/qa5KY49pHBRqLLTa9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/qa5KY49pHBRqLLTa9
- suraci 2y agohttps://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1FtKjeHEZX https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1FtKjeHEZX you may need vpn to watch this video about a south korean girl taked dinner in the restaurant
- perihelions 2y ago- "We heard that the girls stay in the Hotel (yes, upstairs) and they are seldom allowed out and that they do not get paid or if they do, the amount is for pocket money as everything from food and lodging to basic necessities are provided by the State." In more straightforward language: these are slaves. [late edit]: Here's more about how these slave women are treated: - "In contrast, he said the high achievers are rewarded with a trip to a North Korean restaurant, where they can pick one of the waitresses to spend the evening with. The top employee of the month gets to choose first. He likened it to a hostess bar - and accused managers of "preying on young men's sexual urges, to get them to compete and bring in more money"." https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68226271 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-68226271 ("North Koreans working in China 'exploited like slaves" (2024))
- suraci 2y ago[flagged]
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y agoA journalism article about the victims of sex slavery is absolutely not pornography. Frankly, what a disgusting thing to think much less say.
- suraci 2y ago[flagged]
- Gud 2y agoUS AID wasn't funding BBC News but BBC Media Action. You may or may not agree with this, but please get your facts straight. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Media_Action https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_Media_Action
- suraci 2y ago[flagged]
- jonp888 2y agoUntil 2020 the you could book a stay in a backpacker hostel in Berlin that was actually located inside the North Korean embassy. Eventually the German government got fed up with them running a business out of their embassy and they had to shut it down.
- kuhewa 2y agoThat's incredible. Looks like they leased a building to the hostelers and it was shut down because it violated sanctions, but amazing that the $42,000 a month lease is worth it to dabble in for NK. Then again they were subletting parking spots and rooms previously, perhaps if the order is to milk any property or opportunity overseas it adds up.
- threeseed 2y ago> $42,000 a month lease is worth it to dabble in for NK It's all because the country lacks foreign reserves. When I visited North Korea years ago the pre-determined hotel, shops, entertainment etc all required USD. And of course this all predates crypto which has made this trivial.
- eleveriven 2y agoThat’s wild! It’s such a strange setup
- sephalon 2y agoI have to admit, I’d be curious to visit one of these restaurants myself. However, one has to be aware of the fact that these restaurants are reportedly linked to the secretive North Korean party organization, Room 39 [1], which means that all revenue flows directly into the hands of the Kim dynasty, so in the best case you'll help financing their next BMW or much worse, the nuclear arms program—neither of these I'm very comfortable with… [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_39 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_39
- QuinceOver 2y agoAfter a quick search, I found there are North Korean restaurants in Seoul owned by escapees. Definitely a way to learn about the oppressed North Korean people shut away from the rest of the world without supporting their messed up leaders.
- tpm 2y agothere are and some of them are great
- QuinceOver 2y agoWonderful to know. I never even thought to look up North Korean restaurants during previous visits to South Korea. Will definitely one up next time.
- shusaku 2y agoI didn’t see the price mentioned in the article, but given that most restaurants are barely getting by, are we sure they’re really making meaningful money off this place (much less weapons money)? I wonder if it’s more for covert activities.
- pantalaimon 2y agoThe article also mentions that the staff is not payed, which surely helps the bottom line.
- dmoy 2y agoIf you want North Korean food, but not run by the North Korean government with the weird slavery shit, there's numerous Korean restaurants north of North Korea in Yanbian, Jilin/Changchun, etc. Just regular restaurants, mostly run by Chinese that are ethnically Korean.
- xeonmc 2y agoPerhaps a better term to differentiate it from regime-run ones -- "Ethically North Korean Restaurants"?
- ido 2y agoAre North and South Korea ethnically distinct?
- bikingbismuth 2y agoProbably not in any meaningful way, but I would agree the above comment they are ethically distinct.
- kadoban 2y agoYes. Why would they not be?
- throwaway290 2y agoEasier to just go to any of them in an actual Korea in Seoul.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- dmoy 2y agoMaybe? I dunno There's iirc <100k North Korean in South Korea, and >>100k in China, mostly Jilin province
- 2y ago
- wcfields 2y agoMy experience echos this but on a smaller scale, I’ve visited the NK run restaurant in Bangkok in 2019 and found it to be basically any average nondescript very dated East Asian / Korean restaurant, but odd. It was smaller, maybe seating 60-75 tops? The food was fine, and they played NK music (the kind you’d hear on Korean Central Television) while we ate. The unique thing I recall on the menu was the Pyongyang Cold Noodles which I did not get. Unfortunately the waitresses did not do karaoke which I heard was the entertainment and the whole experience was notable but not like “holy crap”. When asked about takeaways they did offer to sell me NK cigarettes and Soju.
- tpm 2y agoNaengmyeon is worth trying, not only in NK restaurants.
- eleveriven 2y agoIt sounds like you had a pretty similar vibe to what I imagine these places are like... kinda surreal but not mind-blowing in the "holy crap" sense
- t3rra 2y agoThe food called "black rice" in the blog is called sundae or soondae (순대) which in South Korea they put glass noodles and such instead of rice. So it is not North Korean specialty. If you the author haven't tried, you should definitely try from South Korean restaurants too and there are a different versions of food with sundae; steamed, in soup, stirfried in spicy sauce... etc.
- xvilka 2y agoThere is a plenty of sundae with rice too.
- situationista 2y agoThere used to be one of these in Dubai too, but it closed down during the pandemic. I remember a very surreal dinner there in circa 2016.
- maxglute 2y agoThere's a few NK restaurants in Beijing as well. Very mid food in the 90s. Went back in 2010s and they had a bunch of much tastier new items, can't tell if still traditional or making up new tradition to keep up with the times. Anecdotally from aquaintences, there's American style fast food in Pyongyang, and their fried chicken is very good. Have to keep up with the Korean peninsula fried chicken race.
- Obscurity4340 2y agoDo you think Great Leader enjoys American fast food as much as Disney Land?
- maxglute 2y agoI think great leader got spoiled by best big macs when he went to school in Switzerland. I wouldn't be surprised if he regularly smuggle fast food ingredients straight from the suppliers in and run a personal fast food court. I think he gave up on reunifying with the south after all the Subway product placement in KDramas, and realized the south was too far gone.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- QuinceOver 2y agoWhen I was living in Beijing in 2018-2020, there was a Korean restaurant I liked. It had the usual South Koren dishes (I'm a topokki fan myself), but I remember they did serve bottled North Korean beer. That was pretty cool, I have a photo of it somewhere.
- smcl 2y agoThink the word is “tteokbokki”
- QuinceOver 2y agoWe are both correct. It is spelled both ways in English.
- metalman 2y ago[flagged]
- suraci 2y ago[flagged]
- metalman 2y agoHalf american myself, sorta, got citizenship there, family, ancestors, lot of good times, and then its also quite seriously bent, casualy ok with gunfire and every kind of mayhem. Which I am also ok with, having been down range and in range, and even feel at home on the range. I hope they can focus on the pursuit of happyness thing, and lead the world from that place, out front, no secrets, deal with everything now, do the hard thing, which is to agree on something, anything! As for some bordello, man oh man, eh!, want to check.for escorts in any western capital? I lived in ottawa, and litteraly within shouting distance of parliment, was an old department store closed, except for later at night, when the display windows would fill with, hotties in not much. Ever just happened to be on the corner or young and bloor, at 5 min past noon on a week day? All those girls, are "choosing" to dress like that, girl in a fishnet sweater and not much else grinning at me while some guy trys to sell me peyote buttons, a good chunk of the countrys economy bieng fiddled with, 10feet away.
- anonu 2y agoI went to the branch in Phnom Penh years ago. Basically the same format as described in the article, including the karaoke like rock performance. I recall there was dog on the menu. Otherwise it's your typical dystopian experience.
- refurb 2y agoSpeaking of Cambodia, China has got quite the strangle hold on that country. Which is interesting, because the Vietnamese installed a government after defeating the Khmer Rouge in 1979. This majorly pissed off China who invaded Vietnam to "punish" them. But today? It's a playground for Chinese criminal gangs. Kidnapping of foreigners (recently a Thai citizen) who work in local casinos is common. It's mostly Vietnamese, but other nationalities have been snapped up as well. It's also a hotbed for Chinese running online scams. Seems quite lawless nowadays despite the development since the war.
- renegade-otter 2y agoOh yeah, as if a regular North Korean has access to sushi.
- antifa 2y agoThey call it gimbap and putting random shit in rice and seaweed is only considered a luxury in the west.
- eleveriven 2y agoDefinitely an experience that leaves you with more questions than answers
- ciaovietnam 2y agoI visited a similar NK restaurant in Saigon a few times before they closed down decade ago and the experience was the same. What impressed me is that all the NK waitresses can speak the local language (Vietnamese) fluently and can sing or play music instruments. The food is quite authentic, some ingredients are exported from NK. It was a good experience overall.
- waltercool 2y agoHow is this related to Hacker News? And why posting an article of 2016?
- kyawzazaw 2y agoThere was one in Yangon, Myanmar too. Shut down in 2018. https://g.co/kgs/fvWRe18 https://g.co/kgs/fvWRe18