Visiting the North? Try the bibimbap, regime tells would-be tourists

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Saturday ran a feature about “Pyongyang bibimbap” in what appeared to be an effort to attract tourists to the tightly controlled country.

A feature on the bibimbap dish being served at the Rakrang Museum in Pyongyang that was carried in the May issue of the North Korean propaganda outlet Kumsu Kangsan, which was released on Saturday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A North Korean propaganda outlet on Saturday ran a feature about “Pyongyang bibimbap” in what appeared to be an effort to attract tourists to the tightly controlled country.

While the North Korean capital is well known for its version of naengmyeon (cold buckwheat noodles), bibimbap (mixed rice with vegetables) is believed to have originated in the southern part of the Korean Peninsula.

But an article in the May issue of Kumsu Kangsan — a monthly magazine targeting ethnic Koreans overseas — encouraged tourists to instead try the Pyongyang version of bibimbap served at a restaurant inside Pyongyang’s Rakrang Museum, which collects and exhibits artifacts associated with the Lelang Commandery established by the Chinese Han Dynasty in northern Korea in the first century B.C.

In another explanation of Pyongyang bibimbap, the authors of an article in the North Korean outlet Naenara said that bibimbap is a “traditional dish” that “consists of steamed white rice topped with stir-fried beef, fried egg, and an aesthetically pleasing assortment of vegetables and herbs.”

An undated photo of bibimbap that was released by the North Korean outlet Naenara [SCREEN CAPTURE]

The Kumsu Kangsan author said that Pyongyang bibimbap also includes mung bean sprouts, water parsley, mushrooms, bracken, bellflowers and pine mushrooms as garnish, with a sprinkling of grilled seaweed on top.

The writer also said that bibimbap “was traditionally made after various ceremonial events, such as holidays, feast days and ancestral rites, in Pyongyang, Haeju and other provinces” and that “various kinds of bibimbap are made and eaten all across the country, with ingredients and preparation methods differing by family and locale.”

While awareness of bibimbap as a Korean dish is largely believed to have spread worldwide due to the influence of South Korean popular culture, the writer claimed Pyongyang bibimbap “is recognized as a beneficial health food that contains even amounts of nutrients from various foods and is widely distributed to various countries in Asia, Europe and America.”

In addition to calling on overseas Koreans to sample Pyongyang bibimbap at the Rakrang Museum, the article also carried a description of Hamhung nongma (potato) noodles, which it called “comparable” to Pyongan Province’s buckwheat noodle soup.

In December last year, the state-controlled Korean Central News Agency reported that Pyongyang bibimbap had been registered as part of the city’s “local material cultural heritage.”

North Korean propaganda efforts highlighting the country’s gastronomical culture have picked up since the regime opened its borders to select visitors from Russia and China in September and February.

The regime previously operated restaurants staffed by its nationals across China and Southeast Asia before the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution in 2017 requiring all UN member states to expel North Korean workers.

The restaurants are believed to have been one of several ways the North tried to earn foreign currency abroad to finance its illicit weapons program.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]