Coca Cola sold in N. Korean pizza shop: video

By KH디지털뉴스부공용

Published : Aug. 31, 2012 - 17:37

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A video clip posted on YouTube in mid-March shows that an Italian restaurant in the capital city of Pyongyang serves Coca Cola along with pizza to foreign diners, with employees calling it "Italian Coke." (Yonhap)

SEOUL, Aug. 31 (Yonhap) -- A North Korean pizzeria was seen selling Coca Cola, a symbol of American culture, a video clip showed Friday, an unusual move in the communist state that regards the United States as its enemy.

The 30-second video clip posted on YouTube in mid-March shows that an Italian restaurant in the capital city of Pyongyang serves Coca Cola along with pizza to foreign diners, with employees calling it "Italian Coke."

The restaurant is the third Italian pizza parlor opened in Pyongyang by Corital, a North Korea-Italy joint firm.

It is the first time the North has been confirmed to sell Coca Cola, though there were rumors in the past.

North Korea and Cuba remain the only countries where the world's most popular soft drink maker doesn't do business.

Pyongyang has shown signs that its Swiss-educated leader Kim Jong-un, believed to be in his late 20s, is gearing up for reform measures to revamp its crumbled economy.

Earlier this year, state media showed that Kim attended a concert featuring Mickey Mouse and other Disney characters and rode a roller coaster in an amusement park with foreign ambassadors.

Despite the softer image, however, the regime has repeatedly threatened a war against South Korea and the U.S., stepping up its hostile rhetoric in response to their annual war game that began last week and ended earlier in the day.

Victor Cha, a U.S. professor of Georgetown University, wrote in a recent edition of Foreign Policy Magazine that he attended an informal meeting held in New York in spring between North Korean officials and Coca Cola businessmen.

The former director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council said the meeting was held to discuss opening a Coca Cola branch in the North.

<관련 한글 기사>

北피자가게서 美상징 '코카콜라' 판매

(서울=연합뉴스) 장철운 기자 = 미국식 자본주의의 상징인 '코카콜라'가 북한에서도 유통되는 것으로 31일 알려졌다.

   한 외국인이 지난 3월 중순 유튜브에 올린 동영상을 보면, 평양에 있는 이탈리아 전문 요리점인 '해운이탈리아특산물식당'에서 캔으로 된 코카콜라를 판매한다는 내용을 확인할 수 있다.

   북한에서 코카콜라가 판매된다는 사실이 확인된 것은 이번이 처음으로, 전 세계에서 코카콜라가 진출하지 않은 나라는 북한과 쿠바뿐이다.

   식당 직원이 코카콜라를 '이탈리안 콜라'라고 소개했다고 이 외국인이 밝힌 것으로 미뤄 이 식당에서 요리의 원재료와 함께 코카콜라도 이탈리아에서 들여와 판매하는 것으로 추정된다.

   일각에서는 코카콜라가 미국식 자본주의의 상징이라는 점을 잘 알아는 북한 당국이 이 식당을 드나드는 주민들에게 알리지 않기 위해 '이탈리안 콜라'로 소개하게 했을 것이라는 분석을 내놓는다.

   북한과 이탈리아의 합작회사 '고리탈(CORITAL)'이 2009년 4월 평양시 평천구역에서 문을 연 이 식당은 북한에서 세 번째로 생긴 이탈리아 음식점이다.

Coca Cola sold in N. Korean pizza shop: video

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