Second North Korean restaurant closes in Vietnam

2024-06-15 14:02:00      点击：646

North Korean restaurant in Vietnam has gone out of business / Yonhap

Another North Korean restaurant in Vietnam has gone out of business, sources said Monday, as intensifying international sanctions slash the North's overseas currency earnings.

Koryo Restaurant, in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam's biggest city, closed last week, according to South Koreans living in the Southeast Asian country.

The restaurant, which opened in 2014, employed around 15 North Koreans.

A notice at the restaurant says it is temporarily closed for renovations, but an employee at a nearby restaurant said the North Korean business had closed after being sold.

In February last year, another North Korean restaurant in Vietnam's famous tourist city of Da Nang, closed because of poor sales.

The Ho Chi Minh restaurant was also said to have suffered a fall in customers as international sanctions tighten.

Two North Korean restaurants are still operating in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. But they are also struggling amid a drop in customers in a country that is one of North Korea's traditional allies.

Despite its history of close relations with North Korea, Vietnam has joined the international community in condemning North Korea's provocations, including its sixth nuclear test last month and a series of ballistic missile launches.

As part of efforts to implement U.N. Security Council resolutions on North Korea, Vietnam has also expelled the head and vice head of the Vietnamese unit of Tanchon Commercial Bank.

The North Korean bank is suspected of money laundering and transferring money to buy arms overseas.

The Security Council blacklisted the two executives. (Yonhap)