Mickey Mouse is Chinese and 'Crabonated Cocoa' was invented here: How North Koreans claim America's biggest brands as their own (but get it just a little bit wrong)

According to the North Koreans, Mickey Mouse is Chinese while Coca-Cola is a local drink

Unfortunately, they didn't quite get Coca-Cola's name right, calling it Crabonated Cocoa instead

The USA looms large over North Korea and is blamed for everything from power cuts to war

Education system is aggressively anti-American although students still use Microsoft software

Americans are allowed to visit the country but can only stay for 10 days according to Juche Travel


The USA might be public enemy number one to the North Korean government, but that hasn't stopped the people there adopting some of the America's most enduring capitalist symbols, f rom Mickey Mouse to Coca-Cola.



Photographer Eric Lafforgue, who has since been banned from visiting the Communist rogue state, travelled widely in North Korea before being ejected. There, he was given the rare opportunity to talk to locals about their world view.



From talk of 'American imperialists' to the aggressively anti-American education system, the North Korean view of the West is one controlled by the government, in a country where the people lack free access to information.

Many insisted to Lafforgue that Mickey Mouse - plastered over children's lunchboxes - is Chinese, and Coca-Cola, known as Crabonated Cocoa, is a local invention. 'Even in the official paintings made by State artists, you see Disney characters that came via the Chinese products that are everywhere in North Korea,' reveals Lafforgue. 'Most of the people ignore the meaning.'

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Coke break: Guide: 'This is our carbonated Cocoa made in North Korea.' North Koreans say 'crabonated Cocoa' aka Coca-Cola is is local invention

Did you notice that man? He’s wearing an American cap! Guide: 'It's not an American cap Mr Eric - it's a Chinese one.' Disney, North Korea style: Do you know the name of this character on the fan? Guide: 'No Mr Eric. It's just a mouse. It’s Chinese!'

What do U.S tourists say after visiting the Victorious Fatherland Liberation War Museum? Guide: 'They ask for forgiveness for all the crimes that their country has done.'

In Hamhung, North Korea's second largest city: Will a man be sent to prison if he steals a bicycle? Guide: 'We don't have terrorism like in the USA in North Korea.'

Not impressed: I have read on an American website that the people in the subway are actors... Guide: 'They talk nonsense Mr Eric. I hate Americans!'

'But Americans can visit the country, although they can only enter or exit the country by plane and cannot spend more than 10 days there.' Once there, visitors from the US will find themselves shadowed by official guides.



'The guides know that there are drugs, crime, unemployment and strikes in the USA, so whenever they can, they like to tell you that in North Korea, they don't have these kinds of problems.'

More sinister are the posters exhorting people to shoot Americans - an attitude that even extends to the education system. 'It is exciting to play soldier and kill Americans', reads the slogan on one poster photographed by Lafforgue.



Asked why they put it in a school, his guide replied: 'Americans have teased us for a long time. That’s why we always give an anti-American education to our kids.'

Update: Do you hear news from the rest of the world? Guide: Of course Mr. Eric! We even hear American news. For example, I know Americans have walked on the Moon'

Financial advice: Was North Korea affected by the economic crisis? Guide: 'Not all Mr Eric: we’re not capitalists like Americans!'

In the demilitarised zone: Why are no US or South Korean soldiers on the other side of the border? North Korean colonel: 'It's 12.30 - the Americans are having lunch!'

Later that day: 'Today you can see the American soldiers with their puppets, Mr Eric!' Their puppets? 'Yes, the South Korean soldiers, this is what we call them.'

Defensive: What are those blocks on the highway for? Guide: 'In case of invasion by the Americans and their puppets. They are designed to fall on the road to block them.'

Unsurprisingly, many children, especially in rural areas, react with fear to the sight of a foreign face. 'I asked my guide why children ran away when they saw me and she told me that because I have short hair, they thought I was an American parachutist,' says Lafforgue.

Others blame 'US imperialists' for everything from food shortages to power blackouts. 'I was in a Pyongyang art gallery one day and the power went off,' remembers Lafforgue. 'I asked if it happened every day and the guy in there said: "Yes. That is the American imperialists fault!"'

Asked by Lafforgue why he doesn't like Americans, one local repied: 'They meddle in everything Mr. Eric! Nobody likes them! The whole world is against them: Castro, El Assad, Than Shwe, Ahmadineja, everyone! And Guantanamo!'

Others like to enjoy a chuckle at the expense of American tourists.'Yes, they can come here,' one local student told Lafforgue. 'But we only allow them to stay for three days and we make them pay a lot of money!'

Paranoid: Guide: 'Mr Eric, you speak too much to this American tourist...' What¿s the problem? 'We think she is a fox.' A fox? 'A spy.'

Tourism: American tourists come to North Korea? Guide: We only allow them to stay for three days, and we make them pay a lot of money!' Not amused: Is there any American you admire, an athlete, a politician, an artist? North Korean student: 'Nobody Mr Eric!'

Bleak: Do you have homelessness in North Korea? Guide: 'No, here is not like America, Mr. Eric. Our system is much more developed'

On the road: It’s a Hummer! It's an American car! Guide: 'Yes Mr.Eric. In Pyongyang we have two.' But this car consumes 20 litres for every 100 km! 'Well that’s not good.'

The board says: 'It is exciting to play soldier and kill Americans'. Why? 'Americans have teased us a long time. That's why we give an anti-American education to our kids.

Despite the jibes, Lafforgue says that Americans are made to feel welcome by local people who evidently don't share the regime's dim view of the US and its South Korean ally.

'I met many American tourists during my six trips and most of them were surprised by how welcome they were made to feel by the guides and the local people,' says Lafforgue.

'The reality is far from the aggressive propaganda stuff that you can read in the official statements made by the regime. The tourists are allowed to go everywhere apart from the Chilbo area, where everyone else can go and can sleep in the homes of North Korean farming families by the sea.



'Of course, there was no explanation given - they just told me, "it's not possible!"'

Early education: The murals decorating a wall on a school in Pyongyang: the American is symbolised by the wolf killed by the North Korean soldier

Power cut: Local man: 'Well Mr Eric, there is an electricity cut.' It happens every day? 'Yes..That’s the American imperialists' fault.' Smoking: Guide: 'Mr Eric, the soldier is asking you if you have a cigarette?' I only have American ones! 'It is not a problem.'