Joint venture firm opens luxury restaurant

A North Korean joint venture with a European company has opened a luxury restaurant in the capital of the isolated country, the company said Tuesday. Hana Electronics JVC opened "The Restaurant at Hana" and related leisure facilities such as a swimming pool, sauna, hairdresser and bar in its headquarters in Pyongyang, Europe-based Phoenix Commercial Ventures said on its Web site last week. The restaurant and leisure facilities are open to North Koreans and foreigners, Phoenix Commercial Ventures said, without giving further details on the menu. It also said there are about 150 bars and 350 restaurants as well as several 24-hour stores in the capital Pyongyang. The European company, which offers foreign investors business and investment opportunities in North Korea, set up Hana Electronics JVC with North Korea's Culture Ministry in 2003. Hana Electronics JVC produces and sells a range of DVD players, and plans to move into other consumer electronics products, according to Phoenix Commercial Ventures. In 2009, a company in Singapore set up North Korea's first fast food restaurant in Pyongyang, offering food like hamburgers, waffles and beer, according to the Chosun Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan.