Another catastrophe is at the forefront of North Korea as it experiences another severe food shortage. As a consequence, Kim Jong-Un has outlawed owning pet dogs and is ordering citizens to give up their pooches to be turned into restaurant meat.
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A recent UN report has stated that North Korea is suffering as 60 percent of North Korea's 25.5 million people are going through yet another food shortage crisis. The insular country has also been affected by aid withdrawn from overseas due to their nuclear missile programme and their decision to close the border to China due to the coronavirus.
North Korea decided this year to close its borders to its biggest aid provider, China, due to fears of the coronavirus. But due to natural disasters that destroyed crops last years and the flooding that once again destroyed farms this month, the country now has a food crisis on its hands.
Kim Jong-Un declared that they intend to brave the situation and not accept outside aid. In total Nearly 100,000 farm land, 17,000 homes and more than 600 public buildings have all been destroyed. And, with beef and pork being an unheard of luxury, dogs now have to be sacrificed to save the people.
The dictator made the announcement back in July on the grounds that owning a dog is a symbol of capitalism, a 'tainted trend of bourgeois ideology'. Officials now have a list of all households that own a pet dog and are forcing them to give up the pups to be made into restaurant food or be sent to zoos. A source told South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper:
Authorities have identified households with pet dogs and are forcing them to give them up or forcefully confiscating them and putting them down. Some of the dogs are sent to state-run zoos or sold to dog meat restaurants.
Dog meat has always been a delicacy around the Korean peninsula, but while the trend is very slowly dying down in South Korea, it is still running rampant in the Northern country with whole restaurants dedicated to the questionable meat.
Dog in North Korea is usually served in a spicy soup and is considered good for both summer and winter as it is light and provides energy but also heats the body up.
However, Chosun Ilbo claims that North Koreans are secretly cursing the dictator behind his back as they are forced to give up the four-legged members of their family dooming them to an unfortunate fate. Unfortunately, there is no solution for those mourning for their pups as refusal to give up their dogs could be construed as an act of defiance and would no doubt be met with severe consequences.
