North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il, who visited Russia this week, is interested in opening a brewery in the country's Far East, presidential envoy to the region Viktor Ishayev said on Friday.
"Kim Jong-Il said they were ready to build a brewery here. Baltika is working here, we also have Chinese, Japanese and German beer," Ishayev told a news conference, referring to Russia's top brewery. "If there is also Korean beer, nobody will object."
North Korea has a history of cooperation with foreign states in beer-making. Its own Taedong River beer was first brewed after Pyongyang purchased the Ushers brewery from southwest England in 2000.
Ishayev also said Kim Jong-Il wondered if it was profitable to open Korean restaurants in the Far East, and asked where best to do this and discussed opportunities for agricultural cooperation with Russia.
Kim Jong-Il also complained about bureaucracy in Russia.
"He said that considering a request or getting an answer to a question took a very long time," Ishayev said.
He also praised the armored train in which Kim Jong-Il, who is scared of flying, arrived in Russia.
"You do not feel that you are in an armored train, it moves very softly. Sometimes it's hard to understand where the passage from one car to another is," Ishayev added.
