3 minute lunch break

Standing-only bread store in North Korea

Recently in North Korea, the slogan of "Less time to eat, more time to spend in the field to build a great nation" has appeared everywhere in the streets. I guess that's a euphemism for "we don't wanna give you guys even enough time to eat lunch everyday."

Kim Jong-Il's ridiculous thirst for this 'great nation' can be seen in many other places these days. A while ago, a store in Pyongyang that used to sell beer has been forcefully transformed into a bakery, and removed all chairs from the restaurant so people would not stick around and eat for a long time. In a soap opera called "Baek-Geum-San", a wife tells her husband who is eating too fast, "you should eat slowly", to which the husband replies, "In order to achieve General Kim Jong-Il's dreams, one minute for a bowl of noodles, and three minutes for a meal is plenty long enough." 

North Korea has set the year of 2012 as the year to become "the greatest nation ever", but certainly that has not been achieved, though 2011 is almost over already. So Kim Jong-Il's government is pushing their citizens in every way possible to make them work even a minute longer. Can you imagine having only 3 minutes for your lunch break?

Source : Choson Daily : 北 '국수는 1분, 밥은 3분'안에 먹어라…왜?