As Billy Joel once said, "Rock and roller cola wars, I can't take it anymore". Well, we hate to break it to you Billy, but the cola wars are back on, as we discovered on a recent trip to North Korea.

On the train from Pyongang to Beijing, you can now quench your thirst for Western comforts with a sip of refreshing cola...the North Korean kind.

Maybe it's just a coincidence that these bottles of soda, purchasable for a bargain 7 RMB each, could be easily mistaken for Coca Cola or Sprite, although they do say that imitation is the highest form of flattery.

We've long been fans of North Korean graphic design. Everything from matchboxes to chewing gum packets to tinned food tells a story, and discovering these bottles of Korean cola and lemon soda only adds to the complicated picture of everyday life in North Korea.

Interested in learning more about North Korean graphic design? Our 2017 Phaidon book, Made in North Korea: Graphics From Everyday Life in the DPRK, is one of the most extensive collections of North Korean graphic design in the world, showcasing the everyday ephemera that is part of daily life in the DPRK.

Discover North Korean design for yourself on any of our North Korea tours.