Global News Journal
Beyond the World news headlines
North Korea tries fast food. Juche Burgers for the masses?
There are no McDonald’s, Starbucks or KFC joints in reclusive North Korea, but there is the Samthaesong Soft Drink Restaurant, which is the North’s take on fast food complete with waffles on the menu. The communist state, which has its “juche” ideal of self-reliance as a guiding principal, said the restaurant offers the finest fast food in the land made from home-grown ingredients.
Even though the restaurant will serve the masses in Pyongyang, most North Koreans outside the capital struggle to find enough to eat in a country that battles chronic food shortages.
Here is the report on the new restaurant from the North’s KCNA news agency in an article it issued on Friday:
The Samthaesong Soft Drink Restaurant located in Moranbong District, Pyongyang is crowded with Korean and foreign customers. It serves more than 20 kinds of dishes including burgers, waffles, French fries and crispy fried chicken along with soft drinks. It was opened at the beginning of June last. Most of the tables are arranged by the semicircle windowed wall so that the customers can take food, looking out the street through windows. It instantly cooks and serves dishes to the customers as they demand. Manager Ko Jong Ok told KCNA that the restaurant will make world-famous foods with local raw materials to the taste of the Korean people.
{Picture: North Korea’s Samthaesong Soft Drink Restaurant in Pyongyang shown in an undated photo released by North Korea’s official KCNA news agency August 28, 2009.)
North Korea’s “Dear Leader” opens umbrella boom
Kim Jong-il may be at the forefront of a fashion trend that has just hit the streets of Pyongyang: Using oversized umbrellas as parasols.
The North Korean leader started travelling this year with a soldier whose job is to carry a large black umbrella to protect him from the sun.
Kim, called the “Dear Leader” by his state’s official media, has been trailed by his umbrella bearer on many occasions since he returned to the public scene earlier this year after suffering a suspected stroke a year ago.
The iconic traffic ladies of Pyongyang have been swept up in the trend inspired by Kim.
Visitors to the North Korean capital have a hard time forgetting the young women who stand at major intersections in uniforms and direct the few cars on the road with gestures that seem inspired by military drill sergeants and professional boxers. Pyongyang does not have traffic lights. One of the few state secrets that residents of the North Korean capital will share with foreign visitors is that these women are often selected for their looks.
It appears Kim, who is also greatly concerned about their access to make-up, was behind the umbrella proliferation: “The traffic controllers are moved by the warm affection shown for them by General Secretary Kim Jong-il who saw to it that the platforms with umbrellas are being set up this time after raincoats, rain boots, sunglasses, gloves and cosmetics as well as seasonal uniforms were provided to them,” the North’s official KCNA news agency said on Thursday.
@ joe barry – you’re not frightened enough – if you let the umbrella slip you might not make it to jail.
How Ill is Kim Jong-il?
Photo:A compilation by Reuters of pool photographs and images provided by North Korea’s KCNA news agency showing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il from 2004 to 2009. The photograph in the lower right was released this week by KCNA
By Jon Herskovitz
The image the world once had of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, with a trademark paunch, platform shoes and a bouffant hair-do, is gone and may never come back. He has now become a gaunt figure with thinning hair who has trouble walking in normal shoes, let alone ones with heels 8-10 centimetres (3-4 inches) high like he used to wear.
A look at photographs the North’s official media has released of Kim over the past few months indicate he is not a healthy man. There has been an enormous amount of speculation about what is wrong with Kim, 67, including a report from South Korean TV network YTN this week that he has life-threatening pancreatic cancer.
Kim’s health is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the highly secretive North and his actual condition is likely known by a handful of people in his inner circle who risk death or prison camp for themselves and their families if they ever whisper a word about Kim’s problems.
It is a state crime in North Korea to make any comment that questions Kim’s god-like status in the communist dynasty he has ruled since 1994 when his father and state founder Kim Il-sung died.
KJong and his boys are facing new realities as UN resolution 1874 has begun to change business as usual.The diminished ability for them to whet their “appetites” has heightened their psychosis and landed KJ in isolation.With only China to depend on; the socialist “utopia” of NK faces ongoing international discussions on how best to handle them. The scrutiny will, along with a chinese stiff arm, will hasten KJongs exit from this life.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~h ttp://www.dailynk.com./english/sub_list. php?cataId=nk02300
North Korea provides internet comic fuel
Despite the seriousness with which the world takes North Korea’s missile and nuclear tests, the isolated country remains a rich source of humour for cartoonists, satirists and comedians around the world.
The diminutive, bouffant-haired leader, Kim Jong-il, has already been the star of a satirical full length cartoon, plaintively singing “I’m so ronery” in Team America, while plotting to blow up the world.
These days, it seems, every time North Korea rattles its sabres, the noise can be heard via the Internet.
Kim and North Korea are most frequently a subject of discussion on the various late night TV chat shows so popular in the United States.
