North Korea farms black swans, rabbits, catfish as food crisis leaves Kim feeling like he’s ‘walking on ice’
- State media have hailed the water birds as a valuable food source that’s ‘delicious and has medicinal value’
- The country’s dire food shortages have recently led China and Russia to push the UN to ease sanctions on Pyongyang
North Korea has been touting the health benefits of black swan meat, farming rabbits and raising catfish in rice paddies, as severe food shortages force officials to promote creative solutions to feed the population, according to state media.
The Rodong Sinmun and DPRK Today newspapers recently hailed black swan meat as a valuable food source, highlighting not only its nutritional value as a rich protein source but its “anti-carcinogenic” effects.
“Black swans are rare, ornamental birds. Their meat is delicious and has medicinal value,” the Rodong Sinmun said last week. “Foundations have been laid to breed them on an industrial scale in order to actively contribute to improving people’s living standards.”
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North Korea breeds black swans for meat to tackle food shortages
Black swans have previously only been mentioned in the North’s state media as subjects of academic research or in relation to news about the Central Zoo in Pyongyang.
“Their meat contains immunoglobulin, linoleic acid and anti-carcinogenic materials that are hardly found in other sorts of meat,” DPRK Today quoted an official of a black swan farm in the northeastern Jongpyong County as saying.
The black swan is a large water bird that is mainly found in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia.
I’ve never heard of black swans being bred for human consumption in the rest of the world
Bing Ji-chang, general secretary of South Korea’s Ornithology Society of Korea, said he believed the farming of black swans for food was the first of its kind.