Watched a short, surreptitious filmed documentary on North Korea and they confirmed that dog was on the menu. It’s on the pricier side but cheaper than exotic and premium meats
I cannot answer for North Korea. I have doubts about independent verification being possible.
~~ South Korea has documented evidence. Here is one photographers photos of a dog farm. https://www.sophiegamand.com/dogmeatfarm ~~
Edit: Sorry, that farmer had fighting dogs, not meat dogs.
Given that North Korea can mass produce artillery shells, I don't doubt they can mass produce canned food of amy type they can access.
Dogs would be more expensive to farm chickens, cows and pigs. They eat meat, so you need to produce meat to produce meat. It doesn’t seem like a sensible thing for North Korea to be doing to feed its soldiers rations.
In time where food is scarce it makes sense, but to actually farm them. They would have to be farming them as a ‘luxury’ product, in which case they aren’t going to be using it for rations.
They also produce much more meat. They also eat indigestible (to humans) food. Cows stomachs can eat and gain calories from grass in a way humans or dogs can’t, for dogs and humans grass is fibre and doesn’t provide many calories.
Cows are great in this case for food security, ground that would struggle to produce much grains or vegetables can still produce grass. If you feed your cows a lot of grains the food security aspect is nullified. Even feeding dogs grains for a country like North Korea that struggles with food security is not a rational unless the dogs provide a benefit like guard dogs etc. During World War Two many people in UK cities killed their dogs when rationing was put in place (not to eat) purely because it was suggested the pets would consume food that could have been human food.
I personally hope it's not true simply because I like dogs so much. And I don't think if it's more expensive than other meats that it would be given to rank and file soldiers.
That said, I could see it being something special some of them brought from home (I know some us vets who would take what food from home they could, it didn't last long but it was something from home)
I could also see it being like a perk of sending the soldiers to another country. Like "yeah, these guys are fighting over there but they get these cool perks!" but given I have very little information about the north Korean military, I have no idea if either of those things would even be an option.
Regardless, it's 100% not a standard military ration.
I don’t recall them mentioning anything about it being in cans. Definitely an option at restaurants and “upscale” delis, but the time spent in stores was often spent speaking to people, rather than reading labels. As an aside, culture’s closer to Chinese than South Korean. More curt, less formal.
Regular North Koreans have very little food and what they mostly eat is a fermented bean paste. On special occasions they'll get a very small amount of meat, which seems to usually be dog.
There are some very fascinating documentaries about North Korea out there.
I haven’t been to Korea and obv not North Korea but I’ve personally seen one dog and heard another be killed in far north of Vietnam while on a long motorcycle trip. The worst part is I was told they believe the adrenaline softens the meat so it was not nice death and was painful to be around which is why I didn’t see the second but couldn’t avoid hearing it. Donno how common it is but IME it does happen
There is a video going around the interwebs of a Russian soldier freaking out because they were eating it too until someone in the group translated the label.
It was "<breed> dog meat." I forget the name of the breed, but you can look it up. Apparently, it is a breed specifically raised for food and can also be found in South Korea (e: on the menu).
Invading aside (which is wrong and makes sense to be mad about), may I ask why would you be mad about people eating dogs?
(Presuming here you think eating dogs is a moral wrong, beyond animals in general).
I just don't think it's cool to judge other cultures on what they eat.
I think no one should be judged for what they eat. I don't eat meat, and think in general it's nicer not to do so, for environmental and empathetic reasons, and if pressed would encourage others (not unsocilited). I dislike vegetarians/vegans who go out and tell meat eaters they're doing something morally abhorrent, and judging them.
But equally, I dislike meat eaters telling dog eaters that what they're doing is somehow worse
It isn't, and I'm sick of western society pretending like it is. Just feels icky