北韓吹捧烤肉餐廳熱潮，質疑者斥為宣傳

瑪姬・格雷瑟與鄭秀賢採寫By Maggie Grether and Soohyun Jung

首爾，11月2日（路透社）——北韓正在展示一股新的飲食熱潮：多層樓烤肉餐廳，設有臨水露台、嵌入烤爐的大理石桌面，菜單上有牛肉、豬肉和鴕鳥肉。SEOUL, Nov 2 (Reuters) - North Korea is projecting a new culinary obsession: multi-story barbecue restaurants with waterside terraces, marble tabletops inlaid with grills, and menus featuring beef, pork, and ostrich.

自9月以來，北韓國營媒體已宣布全國各地開設十多家新的「bulgogi」餐廳；這個韓文詞在北韓通常指烤肉。Since September, state media has announced over a dozen new "bulgogi" restaurants nationwide, a Korean word that usually refers to grilled meat in North Korea.

這股擴張潮被部分人士斥為政府宣傳，但在這個長期難以讓人民吃飽的國家，仍格外引人注目。聯合國糧食機構在關於北韓的最新報告中表示，北韓每5人就有超過2人營養不足。Dismissed by some as government propaganda, the proliferation is striking in a country that has long struggled to feed its people. The UN food body said in its latest report on the country that more than two out of every five North Koreans were undernourished.

分析人士說，這些餐廳開幕反映領導人金正恩正力圖呈現全國各地日益繁榮的景象，不過質疑者懷疑這些餐廳會有多少人能去消費，或生意會有多熱絡。Analysts say the openings reflect a push by leader Kim Jong Un to portray a growing prosperity across the country although sceptics wonder how accessible or busy the restaurants will be.

位於中國邊境城市新義州的一家新餐廳高達3層樓。在北部江界，顧客可以在魚缸旁喝生啤；在西海岸城市南浦，一場開幕典禮還施放煙火。其他餐廳則標榜罕見的大型空間，可容納數百人用餐。One new restaurant in Sinuiju, a city on the Chinese border, is three stories tall. In northern Kanggye, patrons can drink draft beer alongside a fish tank, while in the west coast city of Nampo, an opening ceremony included fireworks. Other restaurants tout unusually large floor plans that can seat hundreds.

耶路撒冷希伯來大學（Hebrew University of Jerusalem）韓國研究中心主任班傑明・卡策夫・席柏斯坦（Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein）說，肉類對這個政權而言是重要象徵，也讓人想起已故前領導人、金正恩祖父金日成曾承諾，要讓人民吃上「白米飯配肉湯」。Meat is an important symbol for the regime and recalls the promise of the late Kim Il Sung, a former leader and grandfather of Kim Jong Un, to give his people "white rice with meat soup", said Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, head of Korean Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

這些餐廳開幕，呼應了水上樂園、咖啡吧和高級購物中心等其他休閒設施的擴展。雖然金正恩尚未被拍到出席這些開幕活動，但通常會有高階地方官員參加。The openings mirror the spread of other leisure initiatives like waterparks, coffee bars, and high-end malls. While Kim has not yet been pictured at these openings, they are usually attended by high-level local officials.

席柏斯坦說：「我認為這是一種展示方式，顯示所有這些好東西……也正來到平壤以外的人們身邊。」"I think it's a way of showing all these nice things … they're coming to people outside of Pyongyang, too," Silberstein said.

倫敦大學亞非學院（School of Oriental and African Studies）韓國研究教授級研究員海瑟・史密斯（Hazel Smith）表示，這些餐廳也可能進一步證明，一些北韓人，尤其是從事貿易和營造業者，正受惠於北韓與俄羅斯日益緊密的關係。The restaurants may be further evidence that some North Koreans, especially in trade and construction, are benefiting from growing ties with Russia, said Hazel Smith, professorial research associate in Korean Studies at University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

但她說，「這並不代表你擁有一個蓬勃發展的經濟——而是代表目前有些人能勉強過得去，也負擔得起偶爾外出用餐。」But "this is not a sign that you've got a thriving economy—it's a sign that some people at the moment are able to get by and afford to go out and have a meal now and then," she said.

南韓央行7月表示，北韓經濟在2025年成長3.5%，連續第3年成長率高於3%。North Korea's economy grew 3.5% in 2025, a third straight year above 3%, South Korea's central bank said in July.

糧食困境FOOD STRUGGLES

1990年代饑荒期間，國家的糧食配給制度崩潰，數十萬人死亡，迫使北韓人轉向私人市場求生。During the 1990s famine, the state's food distribution system collapsed and hundreds of thousands of people died, pushing North Koreans toward private markets to survive.

分析人士說，自那以後，半私人市場以及來自中國和俄羅斯的支持帶來了更多穩定。根據聯合國商品貿易統計資料庫（UN Comtrade）數據，北韓自中國進口的肉類在2023年至2025年間增加逾4倍，接近3900萬美元。Semi-private markets and support from China and Russia have since brought more stability, analysts say. Meat imports from China more than quadrupled between 2023 and 2025 to nearly $39 million, according to UN Comtrade data.

由南韓政府出資的韓國統一研究院北韓研究室主任鄭恩梨表示，進口增加顯示國內生產無法滿足需求。Joung Eun-lee, director of the North Korean Research Division at the South Korean government-funded Korea Institute for National Unification, says the rising imports show domestic production can not meet demand.

她說，國營媒體對餐廳開幕的報導，是一種「強而有力的宣傳形式」。The state media coverage of restaurant openings serves as a "powerful form of propaganda," she said.

金正恩已敦促幹部改善國內家畜生產，但外界認為糧食供應仍然脆弱。聯合國世界糧食計畫署估計，2022年有1070萬人營養不足，占北韓人口逾40%。Kim has urged cadres to improve domestic livestock production, but food supply is believed to remain precarious. The UN World Food Programme estimated that 10.7 million people, more than 40% of the North Korean population, were undernourished in 2022.

1997年脫北的李愛蘭說，牛肉非常難取得，因為牛被保留作為農場的役用動物。她記得曾在平壤一家鴨肉烤肉餐廳用餐，顧客必須以外幣付款。Lee Ae-Ran, who defected from North Korea in 1997, said beef was very hard to obtain because cows were reserved as working animals on farms. She remembers eating once at a Pyongyang duck bulgogi restaurant where patrons had to pay in foreign currency.

李愛蘭現在在首爾經營一家北韓餐廳。她說，這些餐廳開幕很可能是為了宣傳繁榮景象。她說：「在北韓，高級餐廳只供特殊階層人士使用。」Lee now runs a North Korean restaurant in Seoul. She said the openings likely serve as propaganda projecting prosperity. "In North Korea, high-end restaurants are only for special classes of people," she said.

（瑪姬・格雷瑟與鄭秀賢採寫；布蘭達・吳與尼爾・富利克編輯）(Reporting by Maggie Grether and Soohyun Jung; Editing by Brenda Goh and Neil Fullick)