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North Korea’s Party propagandists have been working overtime this year to portray Kim Jong Eun as a man of the people with a deep love for their wellbeing. As such, he has been out and about visiting public facilities like cafes and health clubs, all the while appearing to attend to the needs of the masses, especially in Pyongyang.
According to the publicity that surrounds these new cafes and exercise facilities, the people of Pyongyang regularly seek them out to enjoy a refreshing beverage or get fit; however, actual public access is no less restrictive than it used to be under Kim Jong Il.
A Pyongyang source told Daily NK some days ago, “At the end of last month, tickets permitting us to go to the ‘Sunrise Restaurant’ once a month were handed out via people’s units. See, it’s not as if we can go there whenever we fancy it; we actually have to have a ticket for a specific date.”
As was the case in most former communist states, the North Korean authorities hand out these tickets, which allow the holder to get access once or twice a month to places including Okryugwan, North Korea’s most famous ‘Level 1’ restaurant on the banks of the Taedong River. The same applies to department stores and other facilities where prices are set centrally by the state.
Due to their scarcity value and the fact that ticketholders do get cheaper prices, there is, of course, a black market in the tickets, which were once referred to as ‘Suryeong Care Tickets.’
According to the source, “The food at the Sunrise Restaurant is more expensive than in the markets, but since it is higher quality people do want to go. Nevertheless, because it is expensive people cannot afford it unless they have a ticket.”
Therefore, such facilities are used most regularly by non-ticket holding wealthy cadres and foreign visitors, and this means that, as the source explained, “Ordinary residents are only allowed to use the facilities on days when foreigners or cadres are not using them. Even still, the authorities say that the facilities are ‘a gift from the care of Marshal Kim Jong Eun.’”
Equally, the source lamented, “The restaurant service gets bad when someone with a ticket wants to eat there. There is a lot less meat and egg in the noodles, too.”
The new ‘Mansukyo Soft Drink Shop’ is also visited predominantly by state agency officials and Party cadres, but not by ordinary people. The same is true of brand new exercise facilities, the source claimed, saying, “It’s just not a place where people living day to day can go. They really don’t have time to play.”
A North Korean expert agreed with the sentiment, but added that it is actually very effective for the regime.
“North Korea is using these facilities to unify the Party rank and file,” he explained. “Cadres think they must be powerful since they are able to enjoy these amenities, and the authorities use this thought process to keep them in line.”
