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New North Korean restaurant opens in Moscow

Published: 18 Sep. 2025, 12:53 Updated: 18 Sep. 2025, 19:56

North Korean restaurant staff pose in front of the country's newly opened restaurant in Moscow. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

North Korea opened a new restaurant in Moscow as the reclusive country expands its overseas dining network, a traditional source of foreign currency, at a time when Pyongyang and Moscow are drawing closer.

NK News reported on Tuesday that a restaurant called Pyongyang Restaurant recently opened in southeastern Moscow at the site of a former family eatery.

The restaurant serves kimchi, fried chicken, ramyeon, bibimbap and Korean barbecue. North Korean music plays inside, with the venue displaying North Korean magazines, according to the outlet.

A Telegram channel called Postolovkam, which introduces unusual restaurants in Moscow, wrote that it is “not just a cosplay restaurant but one where actual North Korean staff work.” It added that the waitresses, described as young women in uniforms and high heels, looked like flight attendants.

A blogger on Yandex Maps said he paid about $44 for chicken wings, kimchi stew, spicy soybean paste stew and steamed sea bass.

The reviewer said that the prices are about average for Moscow, but the food came out slowly and randomly.

Another visitor said a North Korean staff member asked to see their passport to verify their nationality. Some reviews also noted that the restaurant played North Korean media clips alongside footage of Russian singer Shaman’s concert in Pyongyang. While most reviews were positive, diners said the management style remained unusual.

The opening marked the first North Korean restaurant to debut in Moscow in 15 years, following the launch of Koryo in 2009. Koryo remains in operation despite difficulties during the Covid-19 pandemic and a corporate dissolution, and it reportedly continues to employ North Korean women.

Pyongyang has long run restaurants in China, Southeast Asia and Mongolia to earn foreign currency. The United Nations Security Council banned overseas employment of North Korean workers in 2017, but restaurants with such staff still operate in several countries.

Experts said the opening in Moscow reflects North Korea’s efforts to expand its presence in Russia while sticking to its traditional methods of earning foreign cash.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY BAE JAE-SUNG [[email protected]]