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NKorea Extols Virtues of Dog Meat

by VR Sreeraman on Jul 20 2007 4:03 PM

North Korea's state media on Thursday talked up the virtues of dog meat, saying the controversial cuisine is a prized delicacy for coping with the summer heat.

Dog soup, called dangogi-jang or boshintang (health soup), is "the best cuisine" served over the summer season, the official Korean Central News Agency said, touting its nutritional properties.

Dangogi, literally meaning sweet meat, is an euphemism for dog meat that was coined by North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung in the early 1980s. Dangogi-jang means dog meat soup.

"These days workers sweating to taste boshintang can be witnessed in any Dangogi houses and traditional restaurants in the capital of Pyongyang," the agency said.

While dog meat restaurants are assuming a lower profile in South Korea, the reverse is true in the impoverished North.

Pyongyang has many dangogi-jang restaurants but defectors say dog meat has become a luxury elsewhere after chronic food shortages worsened in the mid-1990s.

Source-AFP
SRM/M


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