North Koreans have reportedly been banned from eating hot dogs as part of a crackdown on ‘Western culture’ infiltrating the country.
Dictator Kim Jong Un has declared that serving hotdogs was an act of treason, The Sun reports, amid the rising popularity of a South Korean dish inspired by the US.
People caught selling or cooking hot dogs face the prospect of time in the country’s infamous labour camps, where it has also been decreed that divorcees could also be jailed.
As part of the regime’s efforts to quash capitalist culture among citizens, it has forbidden the sale of budae-jjigae – a dish imported from its neighbour South Korea.
The spicy Korean-American hotpot includes hot dogs or spam among its ingredients.
It was born from meats discarded by US soldiers based in the region during the Korean War of the 1950s, with hungry locals using the items to create stews.
The dish 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 had now banned the dish, along with steamed rice cakes tteokbokki, also a popular street food in its neighbouring nation.
