Make Beer Not Nukes?

Well, North Korea might be one of the last bastions of Communism in the world, but apparently that doesn't mean they’re against a little advertising here and there. The BBC is reporting that North Korea's state-run brewery has produced its first TV ad for Taedonggang beer, and no the tagline isn't "buy a six-pack or your family goes to a forced labor camp."

Apparently Taedonggang, by most descriptions, is pretty good beer. North Korea got into the beer-making business in 2002 after it bought Britain's Ushers Brewery and shipped it lock, stock and keg to the Hermit Kingdom. Taedonggang is described as sweet with a slightly bitter aftertaste; the Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il even gave it his august seal of approval after touring the brewery.

But don't expect to see it in your local liquor store anytime soon, not because of any UN-sanctioned boycott, but because Taedonggang seems to have major shipping problems - the bottles they use are said to be extremely fragile and they also have problems with their bottle-capping machine.

And let's reflect on that for a minute: North Korea hasn't mastered the art of making a decent beer bottle, yet we're worried about them building inter-continental ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs? Doesn’t quite add up, does it?