Back in 2020, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jung Un ordered the North Korean people to hand over their pet dogs to be killed for their meat due to a national food shortage.
Now, it appears that he’s making this a permanent thing.
According to a report by Daily NK, North Koreans have allegedly been told to quietly give up the practice of keeping dogs as pets, and that non-compliance will trigger a “mass movement” to “eliminate” the practice. Additionally, the practice of keeping dogs as pets is seen as an act of “non-socialist behaviour”.
The practice of having dogs as guard dogs started in North Korea in the early 2000s, for the sake of protection.
“There have always been families who had cats to catch mice, but there weren’t many families with dogs. But that number has gradually increased, and recently there’s been a noticeable rise in foreign breeds of dogs such as Pomeranians and Shih Tzus, which used to be a rare sight in North Korea,” a source said.
However, now, people have gradually converted towards having dogs as pets.
“The practice of dressing up dogs as if they were human beings, putting pretty ribbons in their hair, wrapping them in a blanket and burying them when they die is a bourgeois activity. It’s one of the ways wealthy people waste money in a capitalist society,”
“Dogs are basically meat that’s raised outside in accordance with their nature and then eaten when they die. Therefore, such behavior is totally un-socialist and must be strictly eliminated,” the source explained, adding that “the purpose of raising dogs is to collect more furs”.
The source warned that keeping dogs at home is in defiance of the government’s order to raise them for their pelts, leaving many North Korean dog owners in shambles over having to give up their beloved furry family members.
“What should I do with the dog I love so much? I can’t just kill it, and I can’t just abandon it,” a dog owner shared.
What would you do if you were forced to give up your beloved pet dog? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
Also read: North Korea Sends Hundreds of Balloons Filled with Trash & Poop to South Korea in Balloon Warfare
