North Korea, which in recent years has begun opening restaurants in Southeast Asia to earn foreign currency, has launched a new restaurant in Pattaya. Last year, a North Korea-owned three-story restaurant featuring a VIP room with an LCD TV opened in the Pattanakarn area near Bangkok. Two other North Korean restaurants also recently opened in Siam Reap and Phenom Phen Cambodia. It is unclear who the owners of these restaurants are, although sources confirm it is the Central Committee Bureau 39 of the Korean Workers' Party, which was set up in the 1970s to create a personal slush fund for North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il.
The Chosun Ilbo
The Chosun Ilbo