PYONGYANG, North Korea – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is responding to the country’s food shortage by confiscating pet dogs from owners, the New York Post and Daily Mail reported.
Launching a clampdown on dog ownership with a ban issued in July, the North Korean dictator cited “western decadence” and “a tainted trend of bourgeois ideology,” a source told South Korea newspaper “The Chosunlibo”
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Owners fear that their dogs may be heading to a slaughterhouse and returning as dog meat, in response to an ongoing food supply shortage. Kim also stated he will force owners to give them to zoos or to put them to sleep, the New York Post reported.
“Ordinary people raise pigs and livestock on their porches, but high-ranking officials and the wealthy own pet dogs, which stoked some resentment,” the Korean source told The Chosunlibo. “Authorities have identified households with pet dogs and are forcing them to give them up or forcefully confiscating them and putting them down.”
A recent UN report stated that 60% of North Korea’s population are facing “widespread food shortages” that worsened by international sanctions imposed by the current regime, Daily Mail reported.
Dog meat is popular during the hot and humid summer months, believed to provide energy and stamina, according to Daily Mail.