North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, who in 2020 ordered citizens to surrender their pet dogs for meat consumption amid a national food crisis, is now enforcing a permanent prohibition on pet ownership in the country.
As reported by Daily NK, North Koreans have been instructed to cease keeping dogs as pets, with non-compliance risking participation in a “mass movement” aimed at eradicating the practice. The regime views pet ownership as a manifestation of “non-socialist behavior.”
The tradition of employing dogs as guard animals emerged in North Korea during the early 2000s, primarily for security purposes.
“A few households kept cats for pest control, but dog ownership was uncommon. However, there has been a gradual increase in the number of families with dogs, particularly foreign breeds like Pomeranians and Shih Tzus, previously rare in North Korea,” disclosed a source.
Nevertheless, the trend has shifted towards domesticating dogs.
“Dressing dogs in human-like attire, adorning them with ribbons, wrapping them in blankets, and holding funeral ceremonies upon their demise are deemed bourgeois activities, emblematic of extravagant spending prevalent in capitalist societies,” asserted the source.
The source clarified that dogs are viewed as livestock raised for their pelts, destined for consumption upon their demise, thus deeming pet ownership incompatible with socialist ideals. The primary objective of dog rearing, according to the source, is fur collection.
Dog owners, confronted with the government’s edict to rear dogs for their pelts, find themselves in a dilemma, torn between complying with the directive and preserving their cherished companions.
“What am I to do with my beloved dog? I cannot bring myself to harm it, nor can I abandon it,” lamented a dog owner.
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