A few weeks back we heard about the dog meat restaurants in Pyongyang, and the efforts by local officials outside the capital to search out supplies. Dog meat has long been a staple of Korean cuisine, albeit contentious nowadays because of western influence.
The issue is compounded in the North by large-scale food shortages. It would seem, then, to be a propitious moment to denounce the keeping of pet dogs by the Pyongyang elite as a decadent western tradition. Into the pot with them!
From South Korea's Chosun Ilbo:
North Korea has launched a clampdown on the ownership of pet dogs among the Pyongyang elite as food supplies run short.
Trumpeted as protecting the country against capitalist "decadence," the move appears aimed at appeasing increasing public discontent amid the dire economic situation.
According to a source, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued a ban on pet ownership in July, denouncing it as "a 'tainted' trend by bourgeois ideology."
"Authorities have identified households with pet dogs and are forcing them to give them up or forcefully confiscating them and putting them down."…
Pet owners are "cursing Kim Jong-un behind his back," but there is little they can do, according to the source.
Animal rights are even lower on the regime's agenda than human rights….
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