North Korea, Kim Jong-un has ordered citizens to hand over their pet dogs so they can be killed for food due to the country’s national food shortage.
South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo media outlet stated that “pet dogs are now considered a ‘decadent’ luxury and a ‘tainted’ trend by bourgeois ideology and must be surrendered”.
The outlet says the move is designed to quell public anger over the country’s economic tailspin and a source told the outlet that Kim made the order in July.
“Authorities have identified households with pet dogs and are forcing them to give them up or forcefully confiscating them and putting them down,” the source said.
It is reported once the pets are rounded up, some of them go to zoos and some are sold into the restaurant trade where dogs will be regularly consumed. Consumption of dog meat is typically practiced in China and Korea but it’s been a less popular trend in South Korea in recent years.
The country has been experiencing a “widespread food shortage and malnutrition” since June said by a United Nations human rights expert. Anthony Balmain, from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, attributes the food shortage to be the heavy rain the country has been experiencing.
“Hundreds of homes have been damaged and large areas of rice fields have been submerged due to heavy rain and some flash flooding,” said Balmain.
Source: National Post, Times Now