North Korea bans the words ice cream, hamburger and karaoke

According to Daily NK, this linguistic crackdown is part of a broader campaign to purge Western and South Korean words from the country’s language

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has reportedly banned the words “ice cream”, “hamburger”, and “karaoke”, labelling them as foreign terms influenced by Western culture.

Hamburger will be now called “dajin-gogi gyeopppang” which means “double bread with ground beef”(Photo: Adobe Stock)

Tour guides, who undergo strict government training, are now required to use state-approved terms like “dajin-gogi gyeopppang” (literally “double bread with ground beef”) instead of hamburger, “on-screen accompaniment machines” for karaoke machines, and “eseukimo” or “eoreumboseungi”, both meaning “ice confection.

According to Daily NK, this linguistic crackdown is part of a broader campaign to purge Western and South Korean words from the country’s language, especially within its expanding tourism sector.