North Korea instructs tour guides to avoid English words such as 'hamburger' and 'karaoke'

North Korea has ordered tour guides at its new Wonsan seaside resort to avoid a range of Anglicized words when speaking to foreign visitors, instructing them to use domestically framed alternatives for items such as hamburgers, ice cream and karaoke, according to reports.

The guidance, first reported by the Seoul-based outlet Daily NK and summarized in a recent article in the Daily Mail, says tour guides have been given “detailed instruction on handling and entertaining tourists, and must memorise slogans and phrases.” Guides are directed to use phrases such as dajin-gogi gyeopppang (double bread with ground beef) instead of "hamburger," eseukimo in place of "ice cream," and to call karaoke machines "on-screen accompaniment machines." Authorities say the aim is to promote North Korean vocabulary and avoid South Korean expressions and foreign loanwords.

The move comes amid a broader tightening of controls on foreign information and cultural influence inside the country. A United Nations review covering developments in North Korea since 2014 concluded that enjoyment of freedom of expression and access to information "have significantly regressed," citing measures that criminalize accessing and sharing material from "hostile" nations and the use of linguistic expressions deemed contrary to prescribed socialist ideology and culture.

Since 2015, Pyongyang has enacted laws that broaden penalties for consuming foreign media, including films, music and television dramas. The U.N. review said the enforcement of those laws intensified beginning in 2018 and grew harsher after 2020, with the state employing public trials and executions in some instances to "instil fear" in the population. The report noted that penalties under new statutes may be severe, including the death penalty for certain offences.

Defectors and analysts have told investigators that enforcement practices have varied over time. During the COVID-19 pandemic and associated border closures, some North Koreans reportedly were able to avoid punishment by bribing officials or were given "revolutionary" education after being caught with prohibited materials. The U.N. review said a renewed emphasis on controlling information has prompted raids on residences in search of so-called anti-socialist materials and an increase in public punishments.

North Korean authorities have in recent years expanded efforts to build tourism infrastructure, highlighting facilities such as the Wonsan-Kalma coastal resort as part of a campaign to attract foreign visitors and showcase development. The new language guidance appears aimed at ensuring that interactions with tourists conform to the state’s cultural and ideological standards.

Analysts say the directive to replace common foreign loanwords with North Korean terms is consistent with a broader policy to assert cultural independence and to limit the influence of South Korean popular culture and Western media, both of which officials view as threats to regime stability. Despite the risks, multiple sources cited in the U.N. review and subsequent reporting said that many North Koreans continue to seek out prohibited information through smuggled USB drives, radio broadcasts and clandestine viewings.

The North Korean government did not issue an immediate public statement confirming the language directive. Officials have long stressed self-reliance and the promotion of socialist culture in public messaging, and the reported instructions for tour guides mirror previous state campaigns to replace foreign terminology and curtail cultural imports.

International human rights groups and U.N. monitors have repeatedly criticized Pyongyang’s tightening of information controls, arguing that criminalizing access to external media and cultural expressions violates basic freedoms. The U.N. review and independent watchdogs say the escalation of punitive measures and public spectacles of punishment underscore persistent concerns about human rights conditions in the country.

The latest reports add to a chronology of measures over the past decade that have increased the penalties for consuming foreign media and language perceived to be ideologically harmful. Officials overseeing tourism at state-run resorts are now charged with ensuring that foreign visitors are presented a carefully curated narrative, including the use of strictly sanctioned vocabulary, according to the sources.

Observers say the policy reinforces the state’s long-standing aim to control both information and cultural expression, particularly in settings where North Koreans interact with outsiders. The extent to which the language restrictions will affect international tourism flows to Wonsan and other destinations remains unclear.