WP: North Korea Reportedly Wants a McDonald’s. That Could Be a Pretty Big Deal.

North Korea may soon get its first McDonald’s.

This weekend, The Washington Post outlined a seemingly minor but potentially revelatory detail from a recent CIA intelligence report regarding the ongoing negotiations for a summit between the U.S. and North Korea. The report notes that Kim Jong Un may allow a “Western hamburger franchise” into the country.

Though Kim did not specifically mention the McDonald’s brand, his offer follows South Korean adviser Chung-in Moon’s remarks that North Korea may be open to welcoming a McDonald’s restaurant in the near future.

While there are currently no western franchises operating in North Korea, McDonald’s debut in the country would be particularly profound as the brand has long been associated with capitalism and Western culture. The Washington Post notes that the franchise’s expansion into China and Russia in the 1990s was seen as major steps toward bridging the cultural, political and economic gaps between those countries and the U.S.

“This has happened with a number of different communist cultures,” said Jenny Town, a research analyst at the Stimson Center and the managing editor of 38 North, an academic news site about North Korea. “Once they start to get different points of contact with the West, it changes their views — and it usually starts with McDonald’s or Coca-Cola.”

Read the full article at washingtonpost.com.