The Taedonggang Diplomatic Club is a high end bar located on Juche Tower Street, Pyongyang, located directly across the road from it. As the name suggests, the bar is designed to cater to North Korean elites and foreign diplomats. It is largely visited on evenings following the conclusion of the day’s North Korea tour itinerary (and not after visiting Juche tower). The club has a microbrewery and serves a variety of different homemade beers of varying flavours and intensities. It also serves a number of cooked snacks and soft drinks. It also has an enormous television screen at the end of the main bar room.
The Taedonggang Diplomatic Club is part of a multi-floor building with multiple facilities. Whilst tourists are always taken to the main bar, the complex has a number of rooms including a space for Karaoke and several shops which sell high priced alcohol and cigarettes. The main room, as the name of the bar suggests, is not so much a common drinking bar but styled more aptly after an elite private members the club. The facility is contains a stylish brickwork interior, fancy lights and well furnished wooden bars and tables, along with leather couches. The facility has somewhat of a dark ambient to it. To the inconvenience of the visitor, the toilets are squat only.
To visit here on a tour is not complicated. The guides will either include it automatically in the itinerary, visiting on an evening after the day’s schedule is completed, or it can be requested beforehand. At the venue, the average beer typically costs around 2 euro each. More expensive drinks are available. Tourists are also likely to run into foreign diplomats relaxing there. These diplomats are not bound by guides and are able to travel around the city largely at free will. It is a good opportunity for them to share experiences with the visitors.
As a whole, it’s an okay place to spend an evening. As it is clearly a place marked for elites, it doesn’t offer any unique insights into the DPRK or local life.
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