North Korea’s New ‘Superfood’ Will Make Your Stomach Turn

Sinking to even deeper depths of depravity, the North Korean government’s propaganda machine is telling its citizens that dogs make for a highly nutritious superfood.

Not only is the Workers Party of Korea, headed by dictator Kim Jong-un, advocating the consumption of dogs, they are also advising their starving populace to beat and torture the animals to death before cooking them.

During the steamy days of the summer season, the government-controlled North Korean media has been promoting dogs as a highly nutritious dish, as translated by The Korea Times.

On Aug. 6, North Korean radio broadcaster Tongil Voice told listeners that eating dogs was in season, referring to canines as “dangogi,” or sweet meat.

“There’s an old saying that even a slice of dangogi can be good medicine during the dog days,” the broadcaster said. “It shows our people’s love for dangogi and that dangogi is the finest of all medicines, especially during the dog days when the weather is scorching.”

North Korean media outlets have been billing dog meat as highly nutritious, containing more vitamins than beef, chicken, duck and pork as well as a great soother of stomach ailments.

This promotion of eating man’s best friends is occurring just as recent developments have signaled that the nightmarish nation is facing a food crisis.

Because North Korea has not backed down from its aggressive nuclear tests in the Pacific, the United Nations’ Security Council has imposed the strictest sanctions against the country in 20 years, the Los Angeles Times reports.

These sanctions have resulted in constricted resources for the Workers Party of Korea. In March, the government-owned newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, warned North Korean readers that a period of mass starvation could be approaching again.

“We may have to go on an arduous march, a time when we will again have to eat the roots of grass,” the newspaper stated.

Lecturer Daniel Pinkston of Troy University in Seoul observed that Kim Jong-un and the Workers Party of Korea are “betting that the harm of the sanctions won’t last and ultimately their nuclear weapons will make the country stronger.”

One factor that has kept North Korea from total collapse is that Kim Jong-un is no longer regulating the country’s black market, the “jangmadang,” the way his father had.

“Kim Jong-un is doing a lot of bad things, but keeping the markets open has had a positive effect on the people,” North Korean defector Kang Mi-jin told Reuters. “He has no other option. He can’t feed the people, and he can’t completely shut the markets down.”

Despite the government’s efforts to keep its restricted markets stable, the prices of meats such as pork have fluctuated wildly. Kang noted that because the country lacks refrigeration facilities, “Pork meat turns bad quickly so merchants can’t raise prices.”

This may be a reason why the Workers Party of Korea’s media arm is promoting the consumption of dogs.

To add cruelty to the practice, North Korean propaganda outlet DPRK Today told its viewers that dogs are best prepared by being beaten to the brink of death and then skinned alive before being scorched. They explained to their starving viewers that this would enhance the taste.

Sources: The Korea Times, Los Angeles Times, Reuters / Photo Credit: Alan Levine / Flickr