Citizens in North Korea are no longer allowed to have dogs as pets — unless they plan to eat and skin them.
The inhumane ban was announced through the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea, Knewz.com has learned.
The Daily Mail, citing The Daily NK newspaper in neighboring South Korea, reports that having dogs as pets would violate the government’s socialist ethos.
“Treating a dog as a family member, who eats and sleeps with the family, is incompatible with the socialist lifestyle and should be strictly avoided,” an anonymous source said.
The ban is centered around the idea that dogs should be used for meat and fur.
“Dogs are basically meat that’s raised outside in accordance with their nature and then eaten when they die,” the source said. “Therefore, such behavior is totally unsocialist and must be strictly eliminated.”
Dressing up dogs in clothing is also banned, according to the source.
“The practice of dressing up dogs as if they were humans, putting pretty ribbons in their hair, wrapping them in a blanket, and burying them when they die is a bourgeois activity,” the source said. “It’s one of the ways wealthy people waste money in a capitalist society.”
Increased dog ownership — which the North Korea regime describes as having “the stench of the bourgeoisie” — led to the decision for the ban.
Citizens have been given the opportunity to deal with the dog issue “quietly,” but non-compliance could lead to a “mass movement” to “eliminate” the practice, the source said.
Daily NK spoke to one woman who owned a dog and was reduced to tears upon hearing of the decree.
“What should I do with the dog I love so much? I can’t just kill it, and I can’t just abandon it,” she said.
Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), which documents the atrocities of the Kim regime, told The Daily Mail that the ban is “ludicrous.”
“The Kim regime criminalizes normal behavior, including visiting a relative in a neighboring village without a travel permit, crossing the border without regime approval, or possessing a religious book,” he said.
“The ongoing crackdown on pet dog ownership as non-socialist behavior – this attempt to break the multi-millennial human-canine bond by ideological decree – is the epitome of ludicrous interdiction.”
More Than Just Meat and Fur
While North Korea devalues the idea of having a dog as a pet, many countries — including the United States — insist that there are benefits to having them.
According to the Animal Health Foundation, the benefits of having a pet include getting more physical activity, reducing stress, lowering blood pressure, lowering the risk for a heart attack, alleviating depression, allergy prevention, lowering blood sugar detection and lowering the risk of a stroke.
Forbes reported in January that two-thirds (86.9 million) of American households own a pet. That number is up from 1988, when 56 percent of American households had a pet.
The outlet found that dogs were the most popular pet in America, with 65.1 million households owning a canine.
The post Dog Ownership Outlawed in North Korea — Unless You Plan to Skin and Eat It appeared first on Knewz.
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Author: David Wetzel
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