The move by leader Kim Jong Un is apparently aimed at appeasing public discontent amid a dire economic situation, including food shortages, a report says.
A source, speaking to Daily NK, outlined various actions that could lead dog owners to breach the government's socialist principles; "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."
Additionally, the regime singled out the way Western celebrities like Paris Hilton dress their dogs in clothes. "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 stated.
The regime's stance is; "Dogs are basically meat that's raised outside in accordance with their nature...''
Furthermore, it was stated that; "the primary purpose of raising dogs is to obtain more fur."
The surge in North Korean dog ownership, labelled by authorities as carrying "the odour of the bourgeoisie", reportedly prompted this new decree.
According to the source in South Pyongan, the trend of keeping dogs as pets emerged slowly in North Korea in the early 2000s, initially for practical purposes like guarding. "There have always been families who had cats to catch mice, but there weren't many families with dogs. But that number has gradually increased, and recently there's been a noticeable rise in foreign breeds of dogs such as Pomeranians and Shih Tzus, which used to be a rare sight in North Korea.''
While citizens are encouraged to handle the matter discreetly, non-compliance could lead to a widespread movement to eradicate the practice. One distraught dog owner lamented "What should I do with the dog I love so much? I can't just kill it, and I can't just abandon it"
Greg Scarlatoiu, executive director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), has strongly denounced the decree as "absurd" emphasizing the government's habit of criminalizing ordinary conduct.
