At Shenyang Taoxian International Airport in northeastern China, a familiar scene unfolds every time an Air Koryo flight readies for Pyongyang. As soon as passengers clear passport control, there’s a dash towards the KFC in the departures hall. The fast food outpost gets cleaned out of hamburgers and chicken burgers. They’re bringing the burgers back home with them.
North Korean travelers are usually cautious in public spaces, because they’re monitored. They’re cautious in ostensibly private spaces, too. For a glimpse of less technologically sophisticated monitoring under a totalitarian regime, see The Lives Of Others (2006). Yet at the Shenyang airport travelers let their guard down.
Reportedly, previous generations of North Koreans would discreetly dispose of paper bags to hide their foreign food, these passengers travelers buy in bulk and keep the KFC bags as souvenirs. And since the flight is only about an hour, they’re bringing the food back to family and friends awaiting their return a the Pyongyang airport. North Korea apparently hasn’t been confiscating KFC on arrival.
There’s very little travel outside of the ‘hermit kingdom’ which closed off completely during the pandemic. In August 2023, Air Koryo abruptly canceled what was poised to be its first international flight in three years. Back in 2017, Chinese authorities clamped down on North Korean aviation by suspending flights from Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenyang, leaving Vladivostok as the sole international destination for the North Korean flag carrier.
Such a rarity – and relative quality – cause travelers to be willing to openly purchase the food. And the more international air travel is restored the more of these opportunities there are. Apparently South Korean Choco Pies became popular among workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex and have entered the cultural lexicon of North Koreans as well.
It would be quite something if food were the thing that signified a tipping point in Timur Kuran’s theory of preference falsification (Private Truths, Public Lies), where everyone wanted these things but no one could talk openly of them. But once those brightly colored bags are seen, without reprisal, everyone realizes that it’s safe and time to shift their public behavior.
Air Koryo Tupolev TU-204 Approaching Beijing, copyright boarding1now / 123RF Stock Photo
Has it really been seven years since the U.S. – North Korea summit in Singapore, when Kim Jong Un was ferried there on an Air China Boeing 747 rather than his own Soviet-era Ilyushin Il-62, perhaps worried that maintenance issues and lack of parts would embarrassingly ground his return?
I remain committed to my beliefs that Communism wasn’t taken down by the cold war governments fighting. Rather, it was a bunch of East Germans looking over a wall at KFC/McDonalds/whatever/food, blue jeans and rock and roll music and being like “we want some of that! Why can’t we have that??” 🙂
Nice article, Gary, hilarious closing comment: “Has it really been seven years since the U.S. – North Korea summit in Singapore, when Kim Jong Un was ferried there on an Air China Boeing 747 rather than his own Soviet-era Ilyushin Il-62, perhaps worried that maintenance issues and lack of parts would embarrassingly ground his return” ? I’m guessing that Rocket Man would rather not crash land in an aircraft of 60-year-old design last built around 30 years ago. Of course regarding Soviet aircraft, the Tupolev had a worse safety record than the Ilyushin, but they’re both way behind Boeing and Airbus.
Mike, a Soviet expert once told me that a significant factor was Western movies. Not ones with propaganda, those were stopped, but ordinary stories about people falling in love, having adventures and the like. The Soviet citizens saw people like them doing similar work and living far better and it really began to get to them. North Korea does try to keep all those images away from its citizens but I wonder how much will keep leaking in. After all, most absolute monarichies last only a few generations before they are overthrown.
I thought most North Koreans were so poor, how can they afford to fly anywhere? Unless these are part of “the elite”, that get special treatment.
Hear me out. This story reminds me of the Faroe Islands–not because of communism or dictatorships (it is neither), but because of their relative prohibition on alcohol. You’ve probably rarely heard of this self-governing archipelago, part of the Kingdom of Denmark, in the North Atlantic, between Iceland and Scotland. Faroe is a lovely place; literally more sheep than people; beautiful hiking, waterfalls, and lots of salmon-farming (we eat a lot of their fish in the USA, actually). Anyway, the islands’ only airport is Vágar (FAE), and the only airline with regular commercial service is Atlantic Airways. Atlantic’s flight from Copenhagen CPH-FAE was unforgettable, namely because it seemed like everyone knew each other onboard, and they were all noticeably drunk–it was quite a party. Upon arrival at FAE, there is a small Duty Free. Surprising to us uninitiated few, the locals rushed to it to literally FILL their carts with spirits. Later we learn that the islands are practically ‘dry’ by law–if only we had known to fill up as well. So, some locals would fly to CPH (2+ hours), just to fly back to FAE (2+ hours), to have stock-up at that Duty Free, since you could not access the Duty Free island-side (you had to be arriving). Maybe things have changed since then. Was quite a ‘learning experience!’
They should join oneworld.
@John Robert Stone – (1) average North Koreans aren’t flying internationally, (2) Air Koryo even has business class!
It is also hilarious that Shenyang Taoxian International Airport’s code is ‘SHE’ which sounds like their leader’s first name… After all, that’s what Xi said.
Great! So North Koreans love fast food? If they actually saw some of this stuff made, maybe they wouldn’t like it so much. Fast food topples governments? The Hallmark channel topples governments? When you force people to live a life that they don’t really want to live, eventually, it’s time to pay the piper. Revolt is on the horizon, and it will always be that way because the inherent desire for humans is to have the right to live a good honest and moral life. But those that are in positions of authority, enact laws which attempts to ride roughshod over the working class. They learn how to enrich themselves by the sweat of those who seem to not have any power at all. Until, there is a revolution or a revolt. All of this other stuff, it’s just ear wash and eye wash. When you have a leader execute teenagers for watching k-dramas, the people, eventually, will revolt against that situation. It’s been that way since the beginning of recorded history, and it will continue on until humanity wipes itself off the face of the earth. And that just might be closer than everyone imagines.
Xi is his family name not his first name.
@Johosofat — Is that… what Xi said?
*swish* Thanks for the assist!