In this picture from state-run media in July 2022, North Koreans are shown enjoying dog meat soup at a restaurant. (Rodong Sinmun-News1)
Sinuiju authorities are targeting unlicensed food vendors operating from private yards, aiming to bring all commercial activity under state control despite public preference for cheaper, more convenient options.
According to a Daily NK source in North Pyongan province recently, the people’s committee of Sinuiju is conducting a sweeping crackdown on people who sell noodles, soup or other foods from stalls placed in their home yards, designating it “commercial activity without state permission.”
“With a troubled atmosphere lingering ahead of the year-end review, there was already a crackdown on the marketplace sale of foodstuffs of unknown source that were not produced at provincial factories, and now only the unlicensed businesses selling food from private homes remain,” the source said.
Crackdowns used to focus on marketplaces, but now people who make money illegally by selling food from their homes have become a major crackdown target.
“Over the last couple of years, the number of restaurants operating as commercial management centers or social dining management centers (official restaurants) has increased, but many people still prefer restaurants at private homes, which are relatively cheap and convenient,” the source said. “However, the state sees them as a problem because they operate outside of state control.”
People say move targets affordable spaces to eat and unwind
Because of this, people believe the latest crackdown on unlicensed restaurants at private homes aims to “bring all commercial activity under the administration of the state’s socialist commercial system.”
The city people’s committee says the crackdown is to determine whether restaurants at private homes comply with price and hygiene standards, but few people take the explanation seriously.
“People say all the official restaurants are too expensive, and now they complain that the state is trying to take from them even cheap, convenient places where they can have a friendly drink,” the source said.
Restaurants at private homes not only sell meals like noodles and soup, but also simple pub fare and homemade liquor, so people often visit them to unwind and unburden themselves after work.
“The move to restrict the operation of restaurants at private homes, which are cheaper than official restaurants and where people can more comfortably express their personal grievances, is making people even unhappier than they were before,” the source said. “Ordinary people will never welcome the crackdown, regardless of its justification, given that they have used restaurants at private homes as everyday spaces to eat and relax.”
Read in Korean
