North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has ordered pet dogs to be confiscated in the country’s capital, saying the pooches represent Western “decadence’’ — but their owners fear Fido is really headed for someone’s dinner table.
Kim issued the directive in July to round up the pets, claiming they were part of “a ‘tainted’ trend by bourgeois ideology,’’ a source told the English edition of Chosun Ilbo, a South Korean newspaper.
KIM JONG UN DECLARES NORTH KOREA WILL REFUSE OUTSIDE AID TO COMBAT CORONAVIRUS, HELP REBUILD AFTER FLOOD DAMAGE
“Ordinary people raise pigs and livestock on their porches, but high-ranking officials and the wealthy own pet dogs, which stoked some resentment’’ among the lower classes, the source said.
NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR COMPLEX MAY HAVE BEEN DAMAGED BY RECENT FLOODING, US THINK TANK SAYS
“Authorities have identified households with pet dogs and are forcing them to give them up or forcefully confiscating them and putting them down.’’
But while the oppressive regime says the move is to clamp down on capitalist extravagance in Pyongyang, the dog owners are fearful that given North Korea’s food shortage — and propensity for eating dog meat — the directive has only come about to feed the masses.
The dog owners are “cursing Kim Jong Un behind his back,” but otherwise, their hands are tied, the source lamented.
