The Ryu Gyong Restaurant on Le Quy Don Street in HCM City. Photo by Trip Advisor.
The Ryu Gyong Restaurant on Le Quy Don Street in HCM City's District 3 last week announced that they temporarily closed for upgrades but local people said that they would not reopen as the facility had been sold as the restaurant was failing to attract customers.
Ryu Gyong opened in 2014 with 15 North Korean staff.
Earlier this year, a North Korean restaurant in the central city of Danang also stopped operation in February.
Although one restaurant run by North Korean people is still operating in Hanoi, it is said to be also facing losses while South Korean restaurants are doing well in Vietnam.
The business difficulties at North Korean restaurants in foreign countries have come together with more sanctions from the international community which have largely affected the country's foreign revenues.
Statistics from the South Korea government last year showed that 30 out of 130 North Korean restaurants in 12 countries had been closed as of July 2016 following tighter sanctions imposed by the international community since March, according to the Yonhap Newspaper.
Despite having a good relationship with North Korean government, the Vietnamese government has still voiced deep concerns about North Korea’s recent ballistic missile tests and launching which seriously violated UN Security Council resolutions and increased tension in the region.
