https://nypost.com/2021/10/29/north-koreans-pushed-to-eat-black-swans-amid-food-crisis/
Weight-watching tyrant Kim Jong Un has reportedly come up with an unexpected solution to North Korea’s food crisis — getting his hungry citizens to eat ornamental black swans.
The Hermit Kingdom has been pushing the ornamental birds as a protein-packed superfood while opening industrial-scale breeding plants.
“Black swan meat is delicious and has medicinal value,” the ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said on Monday as it pushed the bird meat, which is rarely eaten anywhere in the world.
State media previously called black swan meat “an exceptional health food of the 21st century with a unique taste and extremely high nutritional value,” NK News said.
Research into breeding the “rare ornamental birds” for food began in spring 2019 — with state-sponsored researchers even claiming the meat has “anticancer” properties, the Korean outlet said.
Eating swans is considered taboo throughout many parts of the world, and they are seen as a bad omen by many in China, NK News noted.
But their production is one of many of Kim’s desperate measures after apologizing for the “tense” situation from a crippling food shortage.
Kim has ordered every grain of rice to be secured and all-out efforts devoted to farming, according to South Korean lawmakers briefed by spies about the emergency.
His party has also told schools, factories and businesses to garden and raise fish and other animals on their rooftops and other unused areas, NK News said.
During the crisis, Kim has lost an estimated 44 pounds — but seemingly just from being on a health kick, the Seoul spies said.
The chubby, 5-foot-8 leader appears to have dropped from 308 pounds to around 264 pounds.