Bottles of beer pass by on a conveyor belt at the Taedonggang Brewery in Pyongyang. (AP)
Let them drink beer?
As North Korea’s people starve and its tourism industry takes a hit amid new U.S. restrictions, the rogue regime has canceled a popular beer fest -- while also rolling out a new brew for its people.
Although North Korea abruptly canceled the monthlong festival, people won't be going thirsty in a country where brews are cheap and carry the ruling family's seal of approval.
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Last year's inaugural festival along the Taedong River was a surprise hit with tourists and Pyongyang residents alike. This year's event, scheduled to begin Wednesday, was scrapped for unknown reasons at a time when international criticism over the death of an American tourist and the July 4 test of Pyongyang's first intercontinental ballistic missile have left the country's nascent tourism industry in limbo.
North Korea's premier brewery had crafted a new beer for the festival, and unveiled it Wednesday. Taedonggang Brewery's eighth specialty brew has not been bottled yet and does not even have a formal name, but it's available in kegs as draft. Taedonggang beers are generally reputed to be world-class, which is a matter of national pride among many North Koreans.
The isolated dictatorship has been pushing tourism hard as a revenue stream, but the case of Otto Warmbier and others has raised safety and ethical concerns among potential foreign customers.
A worker monitors machinery used to brew beer at the Taedonggang Brewery in North Korea. (AP)
President Trump is expected to soon formally announce a ban on travel to the country by American citizens after the death of Warmbier, a college student who was jailed for allegedly trying to steal a propaganda banner while visiting North Korea. He fell into a coma soon after his March 2016 sentencing, yet Pyongyang revealed nothing about his condition for more than a year. The North allowed him to return to the U.S. last month, but he died days after coming home.
Han Hyong Chol, head of quality management, told The Associated Press that Taedonggang's brewery pumps out 53,000 gallons of beer every day to meet the demand of beer drinkers in the North Korean capital — a city of about 3 million — where it's distributed to 160 beer halls.
According to brewery history, the plant on Pyongyang's outskirts was built at the order of Kim Jong Il, current leader Kim Jong Un's father, in 2001 and began production the following year.
The brewery courtyard features a large mural of Kim Jong Il wearing a white lab coat and holding a trademark green Taedonggang bottle while smiling broadly before a production line. Several larger-than-life photos of Kim conducting "on-the-spot guidance" hang in brewery production halls.
"He instructed our managers and technicians that as a socialist country we must provide the people with the best beer in the world," a guide replied when asked what kind of guidance Kim had to offer.
A display of seven different types of beer on the wall of a restaurant in Pyongyang, North Korea. (AP)
The state-run brewery employs about 700 people, but is mostly automated. It takes about 20 days to produce each batch of beer.
Han also had no comment on the sudden cancellation of the beer festival, though it's certainly another serious hit to the reputation of tourism in North Korea.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.