North Koreans are reportedly banned from eating hot dogs as part of the crackdown on Western culture that pervades the hermit kingdom.
Dictator Kim Jong-un has declared serving sausages an act of treason as American-inspired Korean cuisine grows in popularity, The Sun reported.
People caught selling or cooking hot dogs face the prospect of being sent to the country’s notorious forced labor camps, while North Korea could also impose prison terms on divorcees. issued a proclamation.
As part of the regime’s efforts to shatter capitalist culture among its people, it has banned the sale of budae jjigae, a dish imported from pro-Western neighbor South Korea.
Spicy Korean-American hotpot, which means “army base stew,” includes ingredients like hot dogs and Spam.
It was born from the discarded meat of American soldiers stationed in the area during the Korean War in the 1950s, and hungry locals used it to make stew.
Fusion cuisine is believed to have crossed the border into North Korea sometime in 2017, decades after it was invented in the south.
Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported in November that authorities banned the dish along with steamed rice cake tteokbokki, another popular street food in the neighboring country.
A peddler in northern Ryange Province told The Sun: “The sale of budae jjigae in the market has stopped.
“Police and market management have announced that if anyone is caught selling this, they will be shut down.”
In December, reports emerged that North Koreans seeking divorce were being held in forced labor camps for one to six months on charges of “crimes.”
Divorce is viewed as an anti-socialist act and is frowned upon in communist countries, where legal separations must be signed off by the government.
A divorced woman who claims to have worked in South Heian Province for three months told RFA that she received a harsher sentence than the man.
“There are approximately 80 women and 40 men incarcerated in the county labor training center,” she said.
“Approximately 30 men and women were imprisoned under divorce decrees, with women receiving longer sentences.”
