North Korean authorities have launched a crackdown on unlicensed home restaurants in Kaechon, South Pyongan province, ordering small food vendors to register their businesses or shut down in June 2026. Many North Korean people are pushing back, calling the measure out of touch with economic reality.
A Daily NK source in South Pyongan province said Wednesday that Kaechon’s commerce management office began an intensive crackdown this month. The office, a state agency that oversees commercial facilities such as state-run restaurants and shops, is focusing on residential areas near the city’s train station, where unlicensed home restaurants have multiplied rapidly.
Many of these vendors once sold noodles, rice soup, drinking snacks and other simple fare on the street. They moved their operations into private homes to avoid crackdowns linked to rural mobilization campaigns, which conscript people for seasonal farm work, and in response to changing weather. They now use yards and sheds as makeshift dining spaces.
“Home restaurants let people get a meal at a relatively low price, so they compete directly with the state-run restaurants under the commerce management office,” the source said. “The office has vowed to wipe out unlicensed home restaurants and is demanding that vendors obtain formal licenses and register if they want to keep operating.”
The demand has met strong resistance. Obtaining a license requires meeting facility standards and setting up detailed revenue management systems. Registered businesses also face regular and surprise inspections, along with various payments to the state and added operating costs. The source said small vendors simply cannot afford these burdens.
Why unlicensed home restaurants keep coming back
“People running small food businesses ask why anyone with that kind of money and capacity would be selling rice soup out of their yard,” the source said. “The commerce management office says it will issue licenses, but many vendors see this as no different from being told to stop doing business altogether.”
Customers of these home restaurants have also criticized the crackdown as a measure that limits their choices. Their complaints point to strong demand for the cheap meals that unlicensed home restaurants provide compared to state-run establishments.
As a result, observers note that the city keeps repeating a wasteful cycle. Vendors lie low when enforcement intensifies, then resume business as soon as the pressure eases.
“Demand for home restaurants never stops, so vendors hide for a while during crackdowns and reopen once they end,” the source said. “These businesses are tied to people’s daily survival, so no crackdown will ever wipe them out completely.”
Reporting from inside North Korea
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: dailynk.com
