CONTROL OF LOCAL RESTAURANTS AND OTHER SERVICE FACILITIES IN P'YONGYANG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A072500330001-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 11
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 5, 2014
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: March 1, 1964
• Content Type: REPORT

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INFORMATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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COUNTRY North Korea
REPORT
SUBJECT Control of Local Restaurants and DATE DISTR. March 1964
Other Service Facilities in P'yongyang
NO. PAGES 1
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACQ.
REFERENCES RD
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THIS M UNEVALUATED INFORMATION SOURCE GRADINGS ARE DEFINITIVE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE
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Attached is an unedited 10-page translation
on the control of local restaurants and other service facilities in
P'yongyang.
Distribution of Attachment:
ORB (for retention and evaluation)
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Subject: Control of Local Restaurants and
Other Service Facilities in P'yongyang
? History
The Social Food Supply Office under the Commerce Aanagement Bureau of the
PlyZingyang-si People's Committee, the forerunner of the Social Food Supply
& Convenience Facilities Management Departmert (SFS/CFMD), had controlled
the restaurants in Ply3ngyang-si until the end of 1958. The Commerce Management
Bureau was however, reorganized in January 1959 into the Commerce Aanagement
General Bureau in accordance with a decision of the Korean Labor Party (.14P)
Central Committee plenary meeting held in June 1958, and the Industrial
Products Management Bureau, the Foodstuff Aanagement Bureau and the Social
Food Supply &Convenience Facilities Aanagement Bureau were established under
the general bureau. The 3FS/CFAD was created under the Social Food Supply
& Convenience Facilities Management Bureau to control all the local restaurant.,
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as well as other convenience facilities in P'Yanserang, such as hotels,
public bath houses, beauty parlors, tailor shops, laundries, pawnshops, etc.,
through the commerce department of each district (kuy0k) people's committee
in the city. 7xemFt however, from the control of the SFS/CFAD were those
restaurants directly operated by the armed forces, Light Industrial Commission,
Ainiatry of Fisheries, and various enterprises, and the International Hotel
and Onspu-gwan Restaurant, which were frequented by foreigners and. high-ranking
government officials and were, therefore, controlled directly by the Social
Food Supply& Convenience Facilities danagement Bureau of the Ministry of..
Commerce.
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2. aganisation and Functions:
The diagram below shows the organisational setup and chain of command of
the SFS/CFMD and its parallel organisations:
8FS/CFMB, Ministryof Commerce
SFS/CFMB, Commerce 4anagement GeralBursa
PlOngyang-s ople's Committee
LInstructors in charge of SFS/Cl, in
Commerce Department, District
People's Committees
--Fjnvenienee Fac
Management Stations
-4Conbined Store Restaurantsl
145;pattment Store Restaurani7e1
Coabined Restaurants
h Restaurants
I
SFS/CFMD, Commerce Management Bureau,
Provincial People's Committee
Instructors in charge of SF5/Cl, UK Commerce Department,
City or County (pp) People's Committees
tztatunilk4.4Ues,.&pagerqertt Stational
SFS/CFMD Commerce Managexr&ent Bureau,
Lresawnittim2E.
Bestosurant;1
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a. Commerce Management ?supra' Bureau: The Commerce Management General
Bureau of the PlyrIngyang-si People's Committee had under it the Social
Food Supply & Convenience Facilities Management Bureau, Foodstuff
Management Bureau, Industrial Products Management Bureau, Planning
Department, Staff Department' Finance &Bookkeeping Department,
Organisation Department, Construction Department, Price Department,
Transportation Department, Instructor-in-charge-of-Petitions, and
Confidential Documents Officer. The Foodstuff Management Bureau and
the Industrial Products Management Bureau respectively operated in
each district a wholesale station, through which they distributed goods
to the various enterprises under the control of the general bureau.
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b. Social Food Supply & Convenience Facilities Hanagement Bureau:
The Social Food Supply & Convenience Facilities Management Bureau had
two instructors under the immediate control of the bureau-chief, who
were respectively in charge of the planning and the finance and accounting
of the bureau.
c? Social Food Supply & Convenience Facilities Management Department:
The staff of the SFS/CFAD consisted of one department-chief, one deputy
department-chief, four instructors respectively in charge of "social food
supply" (restaurants), supply of raw materials, organization, and
sanitation & service, and several instructors in charge of convenience,
facilities. The so-called "social food supply" works carried out by
this department were to provide a smooth management of the restaurants
for the convenience of customers by supervising and controlling the
restaurants and by giving technical and sanitary training to the restaurant
workers. Though this department normally carried out its works through
instructors (in charge of social food supply and convenience facilities)
in respective district people's committee commerce department, its own
instructors were often called upon, utuatgitxtuatotacemxiactut
gEwithatrAstmettoonadt, to give aodamt guidano9Nto the combined
intensive directly
restaurants.
I) Organization Instructor: The organization instructor was responsible
for planning the distribution of restaurants in the city, and for
giving technical guidance to the restaurants with regard to their
equipment, and for providing them with the necessay equipment
supplied by the government such as the dishwasher, rice-washing
machine, noodle-making machine, electric pot, dish conveyer, elevator,
ice-cream freezer, popsicle freezer, and others.
2) Food Supply Instructor: The food supply instructor was responsible
for the trainiflg and technical guidance of cooks, placing particular
emphasis on serving greater variety of dishes and improving their
quality. At present, the NZ cooks were graded: nutrition technician,
assistant nutrition technician, grade-I cook, grade-Il cook, grade-III
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cook, and non-grade cook. Throughout NK, there were only 10 nutrition
technicians one in Kaescing-si and the rest in Plyringyang-si) and 18
assistant nutrition technicians. The most famous of the ten nutrition
technicians was II Pok-kun (nta) (female, born circa 1913), an
author of a book on cookery, which was being used by the P iy-ongyang
Commerce College as a textbook. As of October 1961, she was a deputy
manager of the Ongnu-gwan Restaurant in Plykingyang-si. In PyCingyang-
si, there were about 160 grade-holding cooks, not counting about 20
Chinese cooks who had resided in PlyUngyang-si since Si the Japanese
occupation drws and who assed the NK qualification examination
for licensed cooks, and presently employed by the Chinese restaurants
under the combined restaurants. Most NK cooks, however, lacked the
scientific knowledge to prepare a menu dietetically, despite their
long experience as COOKS since before the Liberation. For this reason,
thio department regularly held classes about once a lot& to improve
their techniques. The lecturers were usually instructors of the
combined restaurants, mostly grad-III cooks or above, and occasionAny
the instbuctors from the department itself and those from the
public Health Department of the Ptylingyang-si People's Committee.
Aside from this training, each grade-holding cook was assigned one
or two non-grade cooks as apprentices5 The swill, ficatim examination
for license and promotion was held by the Social Food Supply &
Convenience Facilities Management Bureau twice a year in spring and
summer. This department was also making effots to specialize the
restaurants in order to attain a greater variety and better quality
of the dishes they serve. To give a greater variety in the dishes,
the cooks were urged to study a particular dish as their speciality
for a specific period and report their results for elcamination by
specialists. This plan, however, did mt work as it was originally
expected, owing to the short supply of raw materials.
3) Sanitation & Service Instructor: This instructor supervised all
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matters with relation to the sanitary conditions of the restaurants
and the services they offered to the customers.
4) Material Supply Instructor: This instructor made requisitionSta
the Commerce Management General Bureau of the Ply3ngyang-ai People's
Committee via Social Food Supply & Convenience Facilities Management
Bureau for supply ix of raw materials needed by the restaurants, on
the blas of the PlAngyang-si raw materials supply plan laid out
in the over_all NK People's Economic Plan, and notified the approved
figures of supply to each combined restaurant, which in turn drew
its supplies froa the wholesale stations under the Foodstuff Management
Bureau on the transfer account basis. Houever, the supplies issued
by the general bureau were hardly sufficient to meet the actual
requirement of the restaurants, and the combined restaurants had to
make additional purchase of eggs vegetables, and so forth at the
farmers' market dr from the agricultural cooperatives in Ply5ngyang-si,
though it was not very often that they could make such purchases as
the food shortage was universal.
d. Combined Restaurants; In spite of its name, a combined restaurant was
not a restaurant but an enterprise that controlled 5 to 8 restaurants
(called obranch restaurants') under it on an independent accounting
basis. In Ply5ngyang-si, there were nine such coabined restaurants,
ranging from grade-III to grade-VI enterprises according to their size.
They were the Yugy5ng Combined Restaurant, the Noran Combined Restaurant,
the Keingnim Combined Restaurant, the Chongno Combined Restaurant, the
Yunhwanson Combined Restaurant, the Karuge Combined Restaurant the Kimim
Combined Restaurant, the Tongdaewon Combined Restaurant, ard the Taesong
Combined Restaurant. At the time of their establishment, the government
had provided them with 30 percent of their working capital but they were
operated under the independent accounting met= and had their own
accoubt with the bank. Tho staff of a combined restaurant consisted of
a manager; two deputy managers (one an charge of productions and the
other in charge of personnel affairs, doUbling as cell leader of the KLP);
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a commerce department chief, who had under him two purchasing officers,
two instructors, and three warehouse keepers; a chief bookkeeper, who
was assisted by two bookkeepers and an administrative officer; a food
supply instructor; an organisation instructor; and a staff instructor.
As alreadly mentioned abave, a combined restaurant was operated under
the independent accounting system and therefore was authorised to operate
a factory on the sideline to make up for its short supply.
e. Branch Restaurants: AU restaurants in P'yUngyang-si, which had been
under the control of the Socibl Food Supply Office of the Ply3ngyang-si
People's Committee Commerce Management Bureau until the end of 1958,
were placed under the combined restaurants in January 1959, When the
latter were established. Normally, a branch restaurant was manned by
a manager, a cook, a kitchen help, a waitress, and a cashiers, though the
number, of kitchen helps and waitresses varied depending upon the SiSO
of a restaurant. Some of the branch restaurants, however, were placed
under the actual control of a nearby departmeht etore restaurant or a
combined store restaurant when they were removed too far from any combined
restaurant. There were over one hundred branch restaurants of various
kinds in Psy3ngyang-si, namely, family restaurant, government employees'
restaurant, general restaurant, vermicelli shop, Chinese restaurant,
foreign restaurant, dog meat house, all-night restaurant, soft drink
house, and so forth, situated either on, the first floors of the apartment
buildings or in other separate buildings. The number of customers who
availed themselves of these restaurants were estimated at about 50,000,
or about percent of the estimated 1"y;ngyang-si population of 1 million
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people.
10 FavAly Restaurants: There were about eight family restaurants in
PIgnuang-si, which served meals to the couples working in double
harness (husband & wife both working), working widows, and their
dependents. The customers were required to pay in advance 15 to 18
w3n a month and submit their grain ration cards in order to obtain
their meal tickets. The meals served at these restaurants usually
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consisted of a bowl of rice with other cereals, "kimeh'in
(pickled vegetables), and occasionally, soup, but some families
with children someti,es ordered extra gide dishes, such as fried
fish, pickels, vegetables, hot bean paste, etc., for which they were
required to pay in cash.
2) Government Employees' Restaurants: There were nine government
employees' restaurants in P'yiingyang-si. These restaurants only
served meals to the bachelor gpvernment officials with meal tickets,
Dr"
for which they paid 12 to 1811per month. Their .leals consisted of
a bowl of rice with other cereals, soup, nkirachli," bean curd,
vegetables, salted fish, etc., and occasionally, sausage (a la
'
coreenne) and pettitoes.
3) General Restaurants: The large majority of the branch restaurants
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in P"yongyang-si usoe.the general restaurants whose customers were
ordinary citizens. Besides the usual meals, these restaurants also
sold drinks and their accompaniment a.
4) Vermicelli Shoes: There were about 20 vermicelli shops in Pfiingyang-
si, largest in number next to the general restaurants. Among the
well-known shops, frequented mostly by officials of higher ranks,
were the Kirim-gak, the let Vermicelli Shop, the Taedong-gang
Vermicelli 5ho4 the Munhwa Restaurant, the Chlilegng-mun Vermicelli
Shop, the Sin'gyo Vermicelli Shop, the Tongsin Vermicelli Shop,
the PlyOngyang Vermicelli Shop, the Moranbong Vermicelli Shop.
5) Chinese Restaurants: There were six Chinese restaurants in
Ply7ngyang-si. Until the end of 1959, these restaurants had been
under the control of a combined Chinese restaurant, and their
employees had been all Chinese from deputy managers on down, except
for the managers who were Koreans. But in 1960, all of them were
replaced with Koreans, exgept the cooks.
6) Foreign Restaurant: There was only one western-style restaurant
under the control of this department, called the Ot'an Restaurant,
located in Chungeiing-dong, Chung-guy3k.
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Dog Meat There were four restaurants in Piyangyang-ei
whose specialty was dog meat. These restaurants were very popular
among the ordinary citizens.
8) All-nisht Restaurants This restaurant, located in front of the
Ply;ngyang-si Railroad Station, opened all night for the travellers.
9) Soft Drink Houses; There were serveral stores in PlAngyang-si that
served soft drinks in summer and roast chestnuts and roast sweet
potatoes in winter. Their main customers were students. and children.
f. Restaurants attached to Conined Stores and De artment Store s
The restaurants attached to combined stores and department stores were
also subject to the technical guidance or this department, though their
management fell within the jurisdiction of the respective c_mbined stores
or department stores to which they were attached.
3. Food Prices:
The food prices in restaurants were calculated by adding service charges to
the material costs 25 percent in ordinary restaurants and 25 percent in
some of the higher class restaurants, such as the Eirim-gak Restaurant, the
Tongdaew5n
imam= Vermicelli Shop, the Sinlgyo Vermicelli Shop, and the 1st
Vermicelli Shop. The following are the prices 'of idem food served in various
restaurants in Pifiingyang-si:
a. "Chaengbanu 3 to 5 Wan
(Seasoned meat in thin slices nerved on a tray with
eesol range to be cooked on the table.)
b. Vermicelli soup 30 ch5n to 1.5n
c. Rib soup 50 ch5n (0.5 won)
d. Beef soup . . 25 - 30 chan
e. Chop suey 20 - 25 ch5n
f. uUdone (Chinese noodle soup) 30 - 90 ch5n
g. "Tsajang-my3n' (Chinese spagetti) 30 - 50 chan
h. "Tlangsuyuk* (a Chinese dish) 1 won - 1.5 man
i. Boiled meat dumplings 1 won 50 chon
j. uPibimpap" 50 chiin
(Boiled rice mixed with various seasoned vegetables)
k. Dog meat soup 50 Chan - 1 wan
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1. Vegetables and meat stew ? ? ? ? id, IP . 20 - 25 ch7n;
m. Sukiyaki 1.5 won
n. Sliced raw fish .......... . . . . ? ? . . . 20 - 30 clan
o. Ice cream . ? ? . ? ? ? ? ?? 10 - 30 ch5e
4. Female Labor;
The KLP Central Committee plenary meeting held in June 1958 resolved to
replace some of the male workers in the field of coerce with able female
workers as a part of its efforts to strengthen the commerciel and financial
branches. As a start, about 100 women in responsible posts of various
organizations, including chairmen and staff officials of various county
Democratic Women's League committees, were recruited for three-month
training in bookkeeping. Upon completion of the training in January 1959,
the whole staff of the SFS/CFMD and the heads of the combined restaurants,
branch restaurants and various stores under the department were replaced by
them. The chief of the SFS/CFMD was replaced by a KO Chan-cha (nta), former
chief of the Education Department of the Central Democratic WOmenla League
Committee, and the deputy department-chief, by a. former department-chief
of the Central Committee of the Consumers' Cooperatives Alliance. However,
these two were subsequently replaced again by males in October 1959 as a
result of a KLP Central Gommittee inspection which found than not only
inferior to males in carrying out their work, which required great skill
and capability as an executives but also negligent of their duty. As a
result, KO was demoted to a laundress in a laundry shop in PlyZingyang-eri
and the latter to an instructor of the department.
5. Bottlenecks;
Few restaurants in HK managed well enough to make both ends meet' owing
largely to the short, supply- of materials, the matm rationing of staple
food, and most of all the narrow margin of profit. The only time they could
make any profit at all was when they drew supplies from the wholesale
stations of the Foodstuff Management Bureau, because they allowed some
extras to be thrown in to the supply to make, up for the certain loss from,
for example, nipping off dead leaves from vegetables, which the restaurants
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seldom did. The restaurants in Psy;ngyang-ei were frequently interrupted
of their regular business by visiting groups of local officials who dined
at the restaurants, while they were attending various meetings in the city,
almost invariably ordering the vermicelli soup, because it cost only 20
chUn per bowl at party reduction and were payable in coupons.
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