Dog hide tax starting to bite for North Koreans
North Korea has ordered its citizens to donate dog hides to the regime as part of celebrations marking the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea on October 10.
The government collects dog hides ahead of the anniversary each year “to raise funds for the party”, the dissident Daily NK website reported, but this year the authorities have raised the amount of money that families who do not keep dogs are required to pay instead.
“Although the party is asking for dog hides, there are not many houses that have the luxury of raising a dog when it’s hard enough just to feed their families”, the Seoul-based news outlet quoted a resident of Ryanggang Province as saying.
Until 2014, North Koreans who were not able to provide a dog skin were only required to make a mandatory donation of 10,000 North Korean won (£8.53). That figure has been rising in recent years, the report stated, and has now doubled to 20,000 won, a figure that imposes a major burden on most households and the equivalent of the cost of nearly 9 lb of rice, the staple for most North Koreans.
Families in North Korean cities do not generally have space to raise dogs each year, while many residents of rural parts of the country were forced to hand over their dogs’ skins in previous donation campaigns.
North Koreans traditionally consume dog meat, often in a spicy stew known as “dangogi”, or sweet meat, that is particularly popular in the hot summer months. The fur from the slaughtered animals is used for clothing.
Given the shortage of dogs and the soaring figure for those who have to pay the form of tax instead, there are reports that residents are hiding from the “inminban”, a type of government-run neighbourhood watch scheme whose members ensure that everyone complies with the government’s wishes.
