Kim Jong-un orders North Koreans to eat ‘delicious’ black swans to combat hunger

In a bid to combat a “persistent food problem”, North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, is encouraging his people to eat black swans.

On Monday, the Workers Party of Korea’s official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, published an article stating that “black swan meat is delicious and has medicinal value.”

Moreover, the Express reports, it claimed that breeding the anatidae on an “industrial scale” would “actively contribute to improving people’s lives.”

This came after the chief party secretary of South Hamgyong Province, Ri Jong Nam, officially inaugurated a new black swan centre at the Kwangpho Duck Farm in Jongphyong county on North Korea’s east coast.

The North Korean dictator believes the elegant birds are “his secret weapon” to combat food shortages, a problem which was brought by Kim in June.

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Indeed, the 37-year-old Supreme Leader declared a food crisis this summer, and consequently, instructed workers to find new ways to undertake what he called a “persistent food problem”.

As a result, North Korea’s state media reported that the black species of cygnus was a “new and valuable food source”.

Additionally, the hermit state’s agriculture ministry suggested the birds’ meat had “anticancer” properties.

In 2020, an agriculture ministry researcher implied that black swan meat had “more protein” and was “easier to digest than other meats”.

He also suggested that this type of bird contained “rare health substances” such as “immunoglobulin, linoleic acid and compounds with anticancer properties”.

Moreover, state media have also claimed that black swan meat is “an exceptional health food of the 21st century with a unique taste and extremely high nutritional value.”

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Research into the animals’ breeding for consumption purposes, allegedly began in the spring of 2019.

Back then, satellites captured images of a new construction project at the Kwangpho Duck Farm.

Consequently, NK News reported that eating swans is considered taboo in many parts of the world.

The news website which includes stories brought by North Korean defectors and reports published by NGOs revealed that there were many reasons people did not consume swans as a meal.

For example, swans are seen as a bad omen in china.

Furthermore, in the UK, The Queen owns all unmarked mute swans in the country’s waters, and killing them is forbidden.

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