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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

'For North Korean State Waitresses Abroad, Lives of Rigor and Temptation'

from the atlantic......

"The waitresses, enlisted from the DPRK elite into state service and shipped to government-run eateries across Asia, face political scrutiny and the prison-like servitude of home"


"PHNOM PENH, Cambodia and SEOUL, South Korea -- Even at seven-thirty on a Wednesday night, the restaurant is packed to overflowing. A few minutes after being seated, a waitress glides up to the table bearing glasses and frosted bottles of Tiger beer; in a few swift motions, glasses are filled and small dishes of Korean appetisers materialize, including kimchi, Korea's iconic spicy pickled cabbage. The young woman -- her name is Kim Gyong-Hwa -- wears a fluorescent pink chima jogoiri, the bell-shaped Korean national dress, with her name printed on a small tag in the colours of the North Korean flag. She is one of a dozen or so waitresses living and working at Pyongyang Restaurant in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh, part of a continent-wide chain of restaurants that channels hard currency back to the North Korean regime"............LINK

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