North Korea’s Pyongyang-style noodles (pictured) became popular in the South following the first North-South summit in 2018. File Photo by Korea Pool/EPA-EFE
Jan. 15 (UPI) -- One of South Korea's oldest restaurants specializing in North Korean cold noodles could soon vanish from Seoul as gentrification takes over one of the city's rustier neighborhoods.
Eulji Myeonok, which opened in 1985 and serves authentic Pyongyang-style cold noodles, may soon have to shutter for good, if final steps are reached in a city plan to demolish buildings in the area. The demolition, if it takes place, is part of the city's "rehabilitation promotion," Kyunghyang Shinmun reported Tuesday.
Owners of the restaurant, founded by the daughter of a family who in 1969 began one of the earliest North Korean noodle restaurants in adjacent Gyeonggi Province, have opposed demolition and redevelopment plans.
The restaurant and other landowners in the area, 14 plaintiffs in total, are suing a Seoul district office, claiming the plans are taking place despite issues with authorization.
Seoul city has ambitious plans to build a 20-story office building with seven subterranean floors that includes a shopping mall. The area is currently home to dozens of industrial vendors that began operating during South Korea's period of economic development.
Restaurants like Eulji Myeonok made national and international headlines in 2018, following the first summit between Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
Kim had brought Pyongyang cold noodles to the summit, and his comments and jokes about the food triggered a craze for the North Korean specialty in Seoul last spring.
Long lines began to form at North Korean noodle restaurants as South Koreans celebrated the summit and the end of record-high tensions between the two countries.
The dish consists of hand-pulled buckwheat noodles served cold in a beef, pork and chicken broth, topped with pickled vegetables and shaved slices of meat.
