This is a bottle of Ryongjin, which I believe is North Korea’s attempt to produce a beverage somewhat similar to Coca-Cola. Although you could buy Coke at our hotel and various other places in Pyongyang (I was a bit surprised to see an old lady selling cans of it in Moranbong Park, for instance) I really wanted to try this North Korean soda. I picked up a large bottle at the Yanggakdo Hotel gift shop for a little less than 50 cents. What a deal!
But the taste? Ugh. It was like a flat version of Coke that had stayed out in the sunlight for several hours. Even Pepsi tastes better than this stuff!
Perhaps I should have expected this, though, if only I had bothered to read the label more carefully before consuming it.
Ah, that explains everything. It’s a cocoa crabonated, not carbonated, drink. No wonder there wasn’t any fizz.











From Adam:
I take offense to you slandering Pepsi. Coke did not win the cold war like you believe it did.
From Lindsay:
That was aimed specifically at you, BTW.
From Cindy C:
Was there Diet Ryongjin?
From Lindsay:
Hahaha, unfortunately no diet version was available!
From Jimmy:
How dare you mock North Korea’s superior crabonating technology! It was invented by the Dear Leader himself and is thus superior to all imperialist colas.
From Kiago:
jimmy stfu ok its just because your leader drink it its not some what divine plus your not even in north Korea because their is not internet in north Korea. Plus North Korea sucked i am glad i escaped the country with false ideal forced down your mouth. The gulags that they hide are just horrid to bare i cant so tell me how great your leader is when the outside world advance in both modern and medical technology and there are rolling blackout were i lived Pyongyang.
From Schaffer:
Kiago, english must not be your first language since you are the only person that did not realize Jimmy was being sarcastic. Do you honestly believe that a north Korean would be able to view this webpage. Fail.