By Sammie Jones-
Hungry North Koreans have been told to eat black swans in a major drive as the country battles chronic food shortages.
Last weekend, Ri Jong Nam, chief secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in the North Korean province of South Hamgyong, opened a centre for the rearing of black swans at the Kwangpho Duck Farm on the country’s east coast.
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The ceremony, broadcast on state television, was part of a broader campaign to promote the consumption of black swans, as North Korea battles with a self-acknowledged “food crisis”.
Kim Jong-un’s regime has branded the meat “delicious” and claiming it offers “medicinal value”.
Black swan meat has also been extolled by state media as “an exceptional health food of the 21st century with a unique taste and extremely high nutritional value”
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It comes as a new duck farm is opened on the secretive state’s east coast in response to a food crisis gripping the nation.
Black swan has been branded “an exceptional health food of the 21st century with a unique taste and extremely high nutritional value” in government propaganda.
North Korean state media claimed that newly developed industrial scale breeding would help improve people’s lives.
“Black swan meat is delicious and has medicinal value,” the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said on Monday.
State propaganda has branded black swans ‘delicious’
State propaganda has branded black swans ‘delicious’ ( Image: NurPhoto/PA Images)
Research into breeding the ornamental birds for food began in early 2019, and authorities have told schools, factories and businesses to grow food and raise fish and other animals to increase self-sufficiency, according to NK News.
“The solution is meant to address both the failure of large-scale farming to provide adequate food supplies to the whole country and more recent government COVID-19-related restrictions that have largely blocked food and other imports since early 2020,” wrote Colin Zwirko, NK News senior analytic correspondent.
A new centre for rearing black swans was opened on the country’s east coast by key Kim aide Ri Jong Nam, chief secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.
International observers say North Korea’s food and economic situation is perilous and there are signs that it is increasing trade and receiving large shipments of humanitarian aid via China.
North Korea is gripped by an economic and food supply crisis, experts believe
North Korea is gripped by an economic and food supply crisis, experts believe ( Image: via REUTERS)
South Korea’s intelligence agency told a closed-door parliamentary hearing yesterday that Kim had issued orders calling for every grain of rice to be secured and all-out efforts devoted to farming.
But the spy agency assessed that this harvest may be better than last year’s because of sunnier weather, and it said North Korea was taking steps to reopen its border with China and Russia in coming months.
In June Kim told officials in the hermit state: “The people’s food situation is now getting tense as the agricultural sector failed to fulfil its grain production plan due to the damage by typhoon last year.”
In July the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization said the 2021 growing season appeared to be off to a good start, but a new report this week by a U.S.-based think-tank said data gathered by satellite point to a yield that falls short of an average or good harvest.
“While not yet a crisis of famine proportions, the negative trend, combined with external factors such as low yields in the previous year and flood damage to the northeastern croplands and crop transport infrastructure, aggravate the food insecurity in the country,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report released earlier this month.
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