2024-04-13 08:21:15
It has been reported that North Korean authorities are conducting training to ensure that employees of North Korean restaurants in China return all cash tips received from customers to the authorities.
According to Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the 12th, it was confirmed that beautiful Pyongyang women in their 20s are mobilized to earn foreign currency by carrying food and singing at Ryugyong Restaurant, Pyeongyang Pavilion, and Pyeongyang Specialty Restaurants in Dandong, China.
It is said that they have been collecting cash tips (service charges) from customers, giving some to the authorities and using some for living expenses. He received 500 yuan (about 95,000 won) as a service fee, gave about 400 yuan to the authorities, and kept 100 yuan, usually keeping about 20% of the service fee for himself.
Regarding this, a North Korean source said, “Starting this month, employees at the Pyongyang Pavilion in Dandong are not allowed to spend a single penny of the tips they receive from customers.” He explained, “This is because there was a special night training for employees working at the Pyongyang Pavilion earlier this month,” adding, “The core of the training is to give all tips received from customers.”
“A person who also manages the restaurant said that this training, which took place at night, was conducted by the restaurant manager in charge of the employees,” he said. “The government took measures to require Pyongyang women who serve food or perform to give all the tips they receive from customers.” “This is because the foreign currency earning plan imposed has increased,” he explained.
Another North Korean source in China said, “At Pyongyang Specialty Restaurants, evening classes to learn Chinese are held for an hour starting at 10 p.m. every night.” “I have time to give all the tips I receive.”
At the same time, he said, “Chinese language training time has degenerated into a time to empty employees’ pockets.”
In particular, it is very difficult to secretly hide tips because CCTV cameras are installed throughout the restaurant, but it is said that it is possible to secretly hide tips in blind areas where there are no cameras.
‘Pyongyang Specialty Restaurant’ in Dandong, China has a public room (large hall) and a private room (private room), and it is said that Pyongyang women who play musical instruments and sing songs to guests dining in the private room receive the most cash tips. .
The source said, “Beautiful young women sing while playing the gayageum, and customers pay 100 Chinese yuan for three songs at the official cash register, and give a separate 100 yuan tip to the woman who sang,” adding, “1,000 yuan a day.” “Sometimes it is received as a tip,” he explained.
In the 2000s, North Korean restaurant workers dispatched to China were taught to refuse cash given separately by customers, claiming that it was being used for bribes. However, the media reported that North Korean authorities, who have expanded the scale of foreign currency earning since the 2010s, have been allowing cash tips for performance services such as singing and dancing, with some given to the authorities and others allowed for personal use.
Most of the 20 or so North Korean restaurants in Dandong that had suspended operations due to the coronavirus in 2020 resumed operations in 2022. In addition, it is estimated that about 30,000 North Korean workers are currently residing in the Liaoning Province of China, including Dandong.
Choi Jae-ho, Donga.com reporter [email protected]
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2024-04-13 08:21:15