North Korean restaurants operating in Cambodia, generating cash for Kim regime and defying UN sanctions
The cash-only restaurants are part of a network that at its peak had more than 100 outlets across China, Southeast Asia, Russia and Eastern Europe
At least three and possibly more North Korean restaurants are operating in Cambodia’s capital in apparent violation of United Nations sanctions that took effect earlier this year.
Three of the restaurants in Phnom Penh, which all have names including the word Pyongyang, the capital of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, are staffed by North Korean workers and offer products from that country, including blueberry wine and ginseng. They’re part of a well-documented global network of businesses that have been generating cash for the North Korean regime for years.
New sanctions adopted by the UN Security Council in September in response to North Korea’s testing of nuclear weapons required that such businesses be closed by January 9. The resolution banned “the operation of all joint ventures or cooperative entities, new and existing, with DPRK entities or individuals, whether acting for or on behalf of the DPRK”.
William Newcomb, a fellow at the Centre for Advanced Defence Studies in Washington and a former member of a UN Security Council panel of experts on North Korea sanctions, said “DPRK restaurants operating abroad with DPRK staff are at least cooperative entities, if not set up as joint ventures, and are prohibited”.
US President Donald Trump is aiming to get countries to comply with tighter sanctions to put pressure on North Korea, even as Kim Jong-un reaches out for talks about his country’s nuclear programme. The two leaders are scheduled to meet in Singapore June 12, though Trump cast doubt on Tuesday about whether the summit will take place then.
Khieu Kanharith, Cambodia’s minister of information, said his country complies with UN regulations and referred further questions to the foreign ministry. A spokesman there didn’t respond to emails and phone calls. Faxes sent to the North Korean embassy in Phnom Penh didn’t go through, and a phone number listed in online directories connected to a man who identified himself as a farmer and said he has had the number for three years and continues to get calls for the embassy.
All of these restaurants abroad are operated with one of the state institutions – it could be the party, the army, the cabinet or a local government
All three restaurants in Phnom Penh feature waitresses wearing name tags in the red and blue colours of North Korea’s flag with their names written in white in place of the star. The women have similar shoes and hair styles, and they sing songs, play music and dance as well as serve food.