Definitely an experience that leaves you with more questions than answers
Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
51–60 of 85 posts
Re: Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
#52Until 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.
That’s wild! It’s such a strange setup
Re: Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
I 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.
The article also mentions that the staff is not payed, which surely helps the bottom line.
Sadly for a North Korean just having 2000 calories per day is considered a working class salary. 40% of the population is undernourished.
Re: Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
#54My 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…
It 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
Re: Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
#55If 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.
Perhaps a better term to differentiate it from regime-run ones -- "Ethically North Korean Restaurants"?
Are North and South Korea ethnically distinct?
Re: Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
#56I 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.
Re: Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
#57If 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.
Easier to just go to any of them in an actual Korea in Seoul.
Re: Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perhaps a better term to differentiate it from regime-run ones -- "Ethically North Korean Restaurants"?
Are North and South Korea ethnically distinct?
Probably not in any meaningful way, but I would agree the above comment they are ethically distinct.
Re: Dinner at a North Korean Restaurant in Shanghai (2016)
#59- "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 r…
> We found out that the girls are all from elite North Korean families. The one that served us shared politely that she has worked at this restaurant for one and the half years and all of them are University graduates who consider this their duty and only opportunity to work and serve their country by sharing their culture and food.
I imagine it is worse for the people who aren't children of elite families, nor able to learn Mandarin to get a chance at spending a few years as a restaurant slave.
There is a weird phenomenon I saw on some parts of Lemmy where people decide that, "because America is bad, therefore all its adversaries are good," so they'll be online praising every action from North Korea.