North Korea has banned its people from owning pet dogs as its “not socialist behaviour”.

The mad decree was made by the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea, who said having a dog and treating it like one of the family is “incompatible” with the way Kim Jong-un wants to run the secretive country.

According to a source, speaking to Daily NK: “In view of the growing number of families with pet dogs at home, the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea recently informed its members that treating a dog as a family member who eats and sleeps with the family is incompatible with the socialist lifestyle and should be strictly avoided.”

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Dogs have only been allowed as pets since the turn of the new millennium, but that now appears to be shortlived. It was originally allowed as some officials wanted them – and security departments needed guard dogs.

However, that ruling appears to have been rolled back on, if the SCUK’s harsh statement is anything to go by. They said: “Dogs are basically meat that’s raised outside in accordance with their nature and then eaten when they die. Therefore, such behaviour is totally un-socialist and must be strictly eliminated.

“The fact that more and more people are keeping dogs at home in defiance of the government’s order to raise them for their pelts is a problem.”

The source speaking to NK posed another reason why dogs might now be banned, hinting that leaders might see it as another sign of “Western culture” seeping into the country.

They said: “There have always been families who had cats to catch mice, but there weren’t many families with dogs. But that number has gradually increased, and recently there’s been a noticeable rise in foreign breeds of dogs such as Pomeranians and Shih Tzus, which used to be a rare sight in North Korea.”

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