Korea's America-style fast food joint not to call burger 'a burger'

Pyongyang, July 27 (ANI): While North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has finally allowed his countrymen to eat American fast food with the opening of country's first fast food joint in Pyongyang, the joint is careful not to call any item by American names, like burger.

On the menu is a tasty "minced beef and bread" that's definitely not American.

The restaurant called - Samtaesong -- has been set up in cooperation with a Singaporean company, which provided training to staff and supplied equipment, The Sun reports.

Inside, it's just like a normal fast-food joint - but the menu is careful not to call its signature fare a hamburger.

That's because the isolated country's authoritarian government doesn't want the outside world to think North Koreans have embraced the iconic American meal.

Paranoid officials - fearing a popular revolt against Kim Jong-il - won't let foreign words be used and coin alternatives in Korean instead.

Most people in the poverty-ravaged state that suffers chronic food shortages won't be able to afford to eat out at Samtaesong though.

The cost of a burger - just 1.70 dollars - would eat up more than half of the average North Korean's daily income.

The restaurant also offers kimchi - Korean pickled cabbage - as well as waffles and draft beer.

And it plans to add croissants and hot dogs to its menu in the coming months - but with Korean names. (ANI)