Homeless beggars have recently begun appearing in greater numbers around Pyongyang’s upscale restaurants.
A Daily NK source in Pyongyang reported recently that as children of North Korea’s elite and wealthy families gather at high-end restaurants downtown, homeless beggars now arrive simultaneously to ask for help.
According to the source, these upscale establishments in downtown Pyongyang are attracting customers by refreshing their menus with novel items previously only seen on foreign television programs.
The exclusive restaurants serve innovative dishes and offer even occasional patrons a chance to display their status, drawing more affluent North Koreans to dine there.
Particularly popular among young diners are “trendy” offerings like fried rice, which have replaced traditional staples such as soybean paste soup with rice.
Young people also favor boxed lunches containing rice mixed with peas and soy-sauce marinated meat sold near Pyongyang Station and in Mangyongdae district, or the fried fish and grilled chicken wings available at “foreign currency restaurants” where customers pay with hard currency.
Some upscale establishments serve foreign desserts such as coconut milk or sweetened fruit slices. Word of mouth about these treats attracts crowds of young people from wealthy families, substantially boosting the restaurants’ revenues.
As the dining scene flourishes, homeless beggars have begun gathering near these restaurants—a development that hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“Wherever rich people congregate at restaurants flaunting elegance and luxury, homeless children and elderly have started to appear, asking for assistance,” the source said.
Many beggars can be seen pleading with guests entering high-end and foreign currency restaurants: “I’m starving, and leftovers would be fine—please wrap what you don’t finish and give it to me when you leave,” or “Just one piece of meat, please.”
Despite regular crackdowns by Pyongyang police and enforcement teams, the beggars persist.
When ordinary Pyongyang residents observe officials and wealthy families at fancy restaurants alongside beggars requesting food, they comment: “Politics isn’t just ideology. Food is also politics.”
“When people see the wealthy showing off by eating new dishes that restaurants compete to create, while beggars ask them for help, they say, ‘Don’t just feed people ideology. People need food—feed them both food and ideas.'”
