North Korea: State TV launches first beer ad

This week, North Korea’s state TV has launched an advert for Taedonggang beer, a tipple it has been quietly brewing since shifting an entire brewery it bought in Britain to North Korea, Reuters communicated on July, 3.

State TV shows almost no adverts - although programming about local factories is common - so the beer advert is a rare step towards commercialism.

Set to chirpy music and low-quality graphics, the ad opens with a glass filling with draught beer and the slogan: "Pride of Pyongyang."

In the ad aired on July 2, the beer is consumed by a miner dripping with sweat and served to well-attired urban dwellers by attractive young women dressed in traditional Korean clothes.

"It represents the new look of Pyongyang," said the ad. "It will be a familiar part of our lives."

The brew has been sometimes available in South Korea. It sells at hotels for foreigners in the North Korean capital for around US$1.50.

03 July, 2009