The elite in North Korea are reportedly being forced to give up their pet dogs for meat in the reclusive nation amid a food shortage.
Chief Kim Jong-Un has reportedly trumpeted the push through the media as appeasing discontent.
The rich in North Korea typically own domesticated pets while the commoners own their own animals.
According to South Korean outlet Chosunilbo, Kim released a ban on pets in July to condemn a “tired bourgeois-ideology phenomenon.”
The outlet, citing a source, said: “Authorities have identified households with pet dogs and are forcing them to give them up or forcefully confiscating them and putting them down.”
Many dogs are sent to zoos while others are sold to restaurants for dog-meat.