"Kim Jong Il Provides On-site Guidance to Newly Built Okryu Restaurant"

Juche in the Box?

Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the DPRK National Defence Commission, provided on-site guidance to the newly built Special Dish House of Okryu Restaurant.

The special dish house is another gift presented by Kim Jong Il to the Pyongyangites and all other people with his loving care as he always thinks of how to improve the people's diet.

With the appearance of the house which has a total floor space of more than 6 000 square meters and is capable of accommodating thousands of visitors, the area of Okryu Restaurant has turned into a street of catering facilities built in a peculiar Korean architectural style to be proud of.

Kim Jong Il looked round for hours the inside and outside of the elegant, magnificent and exquisite house, a good combination of national, classical and contemporary architectural styles, to learn in detail about its construction.

After acquainting himself in detail not only with the architectural style and substance of the house but with cooking utensils and furnishings in the dining rooms, he expressed great satisfaction over the fact that soldier-builders built the house at the highest level as required by the architectural beauty of the new century by fully displaying the revolutionary soldier spirit.

The house not only has good inner structure but it was constructed at a high level and it is flawless in its architectural substance and style, he said, extending high appreciation and thanks to the soldier-builders for having done good things for the sake of the people.

Noting that it is an astonishing miracle that they completed in a matter of half a year the modern special dish house, which will remain impeccable even in the distant future, he stressed that this eye-opening success is a striking demonstration of the inexhaustible mental power of the servicepersons, the creators of the revolutionary soldier spirit.

He was greatly pleased that the appearance of the best special dish house as an annex to Okryu Restaurant, the catering centre for the people, which has long earned its fame as an icon of Korea standing on the picturesque bank of the River Taedong, made it possible for the restaurant for the people to shed its rays as a precious treasure of the Korean nation and the world's leading restaurant both in name and reality.

Gigantic structures are now springing up one after another in various parts of the country and the wealth of the country is on the steady increase, enabling the Korean people to enjoy pleasure after undergoing pain, he noted, adding that the stirring reality of a thriving nation is on the horizon thanks to the inexhaustible mental power of the heroic Korean people who bravely weathered out all sorts of difficulties and trials.

Noting that Okryu Restaurant is a crystal of the great love, an embodiment of President Kim Il Sung's idea of believing in people as in Heaven, he said that it is the sacred duty and noble moral obligation to add shine to this valuable heritage generation after generation.

Okryu Restaurant has an important role to play in improving the people's diet and giving fuller play to the advantages of Korean-style socialism, he said, setting forth important tasks to be carried out to manage and operate the restaurant.

It is the intention and ideal of the Party to bring the level of the people's diet and food culture to the highest level as they will live in a thriving nation, he noted, underscoring the need for the special dish house of the restaurant to play the role as a pedigree eating house for the development of the country's culinary art.

He stressed the need for the special dish house to serve not only Korean national dishes but a variety of dishes including turtle, salmon, sturgeon, quail and bullfrog dishes.

When the house serves national and world famous dishes well, Okryu Restaurant will be more crowded with visitors and then famous dishes will spread across the country from here, he noted.

He stressed that if this modern house is to pay off profusely, it is necessary to steadily raise the technical skills of the cookers, make a sufficient supply of foodstuffs and other things, ensure the hygienic safety at the restaurant and also pay deep attention to the management of the facilities.

He together with the leading officials who accompanied him tasted Pyongyang cold noodle prepared by employees of the restaurant and appreciated it, saying that the original taste and tradition were preserved well in the noodle.

He then expressed expectation that the restaurant would faithfully fulfill its duty as a catering establishment. [...]

And that wasn't the first time we have accompanied the Dear Leader on a field-guidance tour of a sacred socialist beanery. How close has that inexhaustible mental power gotten them to prosperity? According to the Washington Post today, North Korea "has had a bad year economically with a disastrous revaluation of its currency. Food shortages and famine are still part of the landscape."

In any event, the latest Haveil Havalim will shed its rays as a precious treasure . . .