Owing to the long rooted history of contention with the United States, North Korea does not have its own domestically produced Cola Cola franchise, instead relying on imports from China. However, that does not mean that the world’s most famous drink has not been able to inspire domestic markets within the DPRK. Yes indeed, Pyongyang has had its own shot at creating a Cola based drink. Thus today as part of our ongoing “Made in North Korea” series we take a look at what we term “Ryongjin Cola” or otherwise known as “Ryongjin Cocoa”, a peculiar drink that has been circulating in local stores for a few years now!
Ryongjin Cola is an interesting creation. Not only is there a blatant misspelling present on its label, titled as a “Crabonated Drink” (seriously) but it also seems to draw inspiration from the world famous Coca Cola itself. Its label is a distinctive red background with white text placed upon it in a font not too dissimilar to the Coke one. There are two sides to this, the clear English version and the Korean text version which reads “Kokoa dansandanmul” (Cocoa Sparkling water); of course it is not sparkling water, this just appears to be the standard North Korean term to describe soft drinks which strives to avoid importing foreign words. The use of the term “cocoa” is confusing, but nevertheless the clear label mimicking and black colour of the drink all indicate it is designed to be a Cola. The brand name “Ryongjin” appears to be based on a township to the North of Pyongyang.
So that leads us to our next point, what does Ryongjin Cola taste like? The answer: not very good. Whilst our last review of Air Koryo Apple Soda praised the drink for its emphasis on quality and taste, this one, not so. It tastes very much akin to a cheap cola you would find anywhere else in the world, such as for example: tesco value cola. This is of course not necessarily a criticism, as outside of Cola Cola and Pepsi, no company has been able to match their application of “secret recipes” to create a cola drink which had a flavour to match theirs, Their global presence speaks for themselves. Thus when buying Ryongjin Cola, don’t pitch your expectations to be too high!
Nevertheless, the product is an interesting reflection of trends in the DPRK. Ryongjin Cola is a demonstration as to how global consumer culture and the imagery of iconic brands are having an impression on North Korean enterprise and entrepreneurship. Even in a country like the DPRK, one cannot escape the influence of the Coca Cola logo and the cultural connotations which come with it. Thus in a trend similar to China, North Korean businessmen have took to the idea of simply “copying” these brand identities by making similar products and adopting them into local markets. Still, next time you are on a North Korea tour make sure you buy some!