Why North Korean workers are serving Chinese food in Beijing

A North Korean waitress serves food at a southern Chinese cuisine restaurant in Beijing’s Chaoyang District on June 24. She wears a badge featuring crossed North Korean and Chinese flags. Korea Times photo by Lee Hye-mi

In a Chinese restaurant tucked into Beijing’s Chaoyang District, North Korean waitresses serve southern-style dishes to local patrons under glittering chandeliers. Their uniforms are crisp, their Chinese fluent, but what catches the eye is a small badge on their chest bearing the North Korean and Chinese flags crossed together.

“I came to China at 18. It’s been six years now,” said Kim, a 24-year-old waitress who first left North Korea in 2019. She’s one of over 10 North Korean women working at this upscale eatery.

Though the menu features classic Hunan and Cantonese cuisine, one private room echoed with the strains of “Arirang,” a Korean folk song sung live by waitresses dressed in traditional hanbok (Korean traditional clothing), available for 200 yuan ($28) per song. But performances are strictly off-limits to Korean patrons, and photography is prohibited.

Though North Korean restaurants once flourished openly across China, recent years have seen many close their doors under UN sanctions and COVID-era shutdowns.

In their place, a growing number of ordinary Chinese restaurants, often owned by Chinese entrepreneurs, now employ North Korean staff. According to the UN Panel of Experts on North Korea, there were at least 65 North Korean-run restaurants operating in China as of early 2023.

However, those bearing names like Okryuguan or Pyongyang restaurant are increasingly rare in Beijing, while establishments like this one keep the North Korean presence alive in subtler ways.

Another restaurant near Jianguomen specializes in Korean-Japanese fusion barbecue, where waitresses in red uniforms grill meat tableside.

A visitor quickly notices North Korean ginseng liquor priced at 680 yuan ($94) and a menu of bibimbap (mixed rice and vegetables) and naengmyeon (cold noodle soup).

Upon realizing the presence of a Korean diner, one server silently retreats and does not return, a pattern that recalls past periods when North Korean establishments barred South Koreans entirely.

North Korean waitresses in hanbok (Korean traditional clothing) wait in a hallway before a performance at a Chinese restaurant in Beijing’s Chaoyang District on June 24. Korea Times photo by Lee Hye-mi

Economic pressures and quiet reintegration

Experts say this shift is driven by a confluence of factors: weakened domestic demand in China, rising labor costs, and North Korea’s need for foreign currency amid protracted sanctions.

Hiring North Korean workers offers Chinese business owners a cost-effective solution with the added allure of unique service.

“Waitresses in large cities earn around 5,000 yuan ($700) a month, less than factory workers in northeast China,” said a source familiar with North Korea-China trade. “And employers avoid paying social insurance while offering customers a novelty experience.”

In most cases, the lion’s share of wages is funneled back to the North Korean regime.

Even as traditional North Korean restaurants fade, the workers remain, often sent in groups of 10 or more for easier monitoring, according to another source. This practice not only helps maintain internal control but ensures continued revenue from foreign labor, a vital lifeline for Pyongyang.

A view of Okryuguan branch No. 1, a North Korean restaurant in Beijing’s Chaoyang District, March 2023. North Korean restaurants in China, including this one, do not accept South Korean patrons. Korea Times file photo

A violation hiding in plain sight

These operations raise serious questions about U.N. compliance. Security Council resolutions adopted in response to North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missile launches explicitly banned all member states from employing North Korean labor.

Countries were instructed to freeze the number of North Korean workers, prohibit renewal of permits and repatriate all laborers by Dec. 22, 2019.

China maintains that it has honored these commitments. In official communication to the U.N., it claimed all work permits had expired by the deadline.

Yet many North Korean workers are believed to remain under the guise of student or tourist visas, a loophole widely acknowledged but rarely addressed.

Kim’s timeline alone, having arrived in China in 2019 and still working, casts doubt on Beijing’s claims of compliance. Estimates suggest 60,000 to 100,000 North Korean workers remain in China.

According to U.N. reports, Pyongyang earns over $700 million annually through overseas restaurant operations, much of it in China. When including factory, construction and IT workers, total earnings likely exceed $1 billion.

Chinese tourists look across the Tumen River toward Namyang Station in Onsong County, North Korea, where large portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il are displayed, from a riverside park in Tumen, Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, Jilin Province, China, June 12, 2023. Korea Times photo by Lee Han-ho

More than money: a diplomatic barometer

The presence of North Korean labor is not just about foreign currency. It is also a key indicator of the state of Pyongyang-Beijing relations. Roughly 90 percent of North Korean workers abroad are stationed in China, making their movements a diplomatic signal.

Last year, South Korean outlets reported that China had issued a quiet ultimatum for North Korea to repatriate all laborers, a possible response to Pyongyang’s warming ties with Moscow.

Beijing’s unease reportedly grew as North Korea aligned more closely with Russia during the war in Ukraine. Despite both nations proclaiming 2024 the “Year of China–North Korea Friendship,” the commemorations ended without fanfare.

But signs suggest the mood has changed. In June, Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun reported that China has recently accepted thousands of new North Korean workers, mostly young women assigned to garment and seafood processing plants.

Given the political sensitivity, experts believe such moves require central government approval, not merely local discretion.

A diplomat at the South Korean Embassy in Beijing confirmed they had heard similar accounts. “It’s typically not something that happens without a green light from the central authorities,” the official said.

As tensions evolve in Northeast Asia, the quiet reappearance of North Korean workers in Chinese restaurants may reflect more than economic desperation. It may be a signal that China and North Korea are once again recalibrating their strategic alignment. For now, it’s a trend worth watching closely.

This article from the Hankook Ilbo, the sister publication of The Korea Times, is translated by a generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.