Asia in 3 minutes: Would you brave Thailand’s coffin cafe ... or tell Kim Jong-un not to smoke?

Bangkok cafe offers customers a ‘taste of death’ with their coffee

Dying for a cup of coffee? You will feel right at home at Bangkok’s new “death awareness” cafe, a macabre, Buddhist spin on the themed-cafe craze where customers are urged to confront their own mortality – and live better lives as a result. With drinks called “death” and “painful” on the menu and a skeleton splayed out on a couch in the corner, the meet-your-maker theme is alive and well at this open-air lunch spot. But the centrepiece of the “Kid Mai [Think New] Death Cafe” experience is a decorated white coffin where customers are encouraged to lie down to contemplate their final moments – and secure a discount on a drink. “I feel like I am in a funeral,” Duanghatai Boonmoh, 28, said as she sipped a chocolate “death smoothie”.

What next? The cafe’s owner says his restaurant is more than just a gimmick or dark take on the cute and cuddly coffee shops common in the Thai capital. A professor and social researcher, Veeranut Rojanaprapa conceived of the cafe as a way to teach Thai people about the benefits of “death awareness”.

South Korean diplomat broke taboo by asking Kim Jong-un to stop smoking

South Korean presidential aide Chung Eui-yong advised North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to stop smoking during a dinner Kim hosted for Chung when he visited Pyongyang as President Moon Jae-in’s top envoy early last month. Chung’s advice made the atmosphere at the head table in the banquet tense at least for a moment when the face of Kim Yong-chul, the North’s top intelligence officer, hardened in displeasure at Chung’s uncalled-for action. It was Ri Sol-ju, the North’s first lady, who cheerfully clapped her hands and said: “He doesn’t listen when I ask him to quit smoking.” That defused the tension. The young leader himself did not mind Chung’s behaviour. Kim, the North Korean dynasty’s third-generation dictator, is regarded as a demigod so advising him against or for anything is a live-or-die taboo.

What next? Chung went to Pyongyang with National Intelligence Service director Suh Hoon to reciprocate the visit by Kim Yo-jong, younger sister of the North Korean leader, to the South during the PyeongChang Olympics.