NKeconWatch: I actually agree with Kim Jong Il with this one. Call me neurotic, but after shaking many peoples’ hands, I head straight for the sink at the first opportunity!
ITAR-TASS
1/17/2007
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has urged his countrymen to abstain from shaking hands and greet people with a traditional Korean slight head bow.
The Rodon Sinmun newspaper published Kim’s article where he wrote in particular, “it is necessary to great each other Korean style. Handshake is a European custom and it is no good hygienically.”
However, a day after the publication many North Koreans, especially males, continued to shake hands as they used to do this before, a Tass correspondent reported from the capital of North Korea Tuesday.
