You read that headline correctly, there’s apparently a food truck called the Pyongyang Express selling “North Korean” food roaming the streets of Los Angeles (and San Francisco) again as of a couple of days ago.
Before you get all patriotic and start rounding up your posse to protest this “Communist” threat, though, you should know that it’s a clever marketing maneuver by LA-based video game publisher, THQ, to promote their upcoming game, Homefront. It’s a shooter game set in the year 2027 where the North Koreans have become an international power with significant nuclear capability and have invaded the United States.
Though the slogan “the best North Korean BBQ in town” is emblazoned on the truck, the food the truck sells isn’t necessarily traditional North Korean food. Rather, it serves Kogi-esque Korean tacos/burritos/quesadillas at either extremely discounted prices or for free given their mood. It’s quite an ingenious theme as they can severely undercut their food truck competition by serving up $1 tacos since most of this is being written off in the marketing budget for the game while staying “in character” as a socialist-subsidized food purveyor.
We remember when the truck was making the rounds last year during E3 to drum up interest for the game. Supposedly, this time around the menu has changed and the prices have dropped. According to their Twitter feed (@pyongyangBBQ), the truck was in Santa Monica earlier today. Keep tabs on their feed to find out if there’s going to be cheap tacos nearby you at lunchtime! That is, unless you think the stunt offends you. Then we’d just laugh at you as we leave the truck with five tacos.
(If you’ve already pre-ordered the game, you can bring in your receipt to get a free taco. We imagine this offer would remain for the duration of the truck’s tour of duty in LA.)
Homefront releases in about three weeks on March 15th on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and the PC. You can check out the latest trailer for the game below:
