North Korea Battles Record Heat By Prescribing Dog Soup And Propaganda

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North Korea has apparently found the answer to record-breaking summer heat: dog-meat soup, chicken broth and stories about how hard Kim Jong Un sweats, according to Reuters.

Pyongyang hit 98 degrees, on Thursday, which state media said was the highest temperature recorded in the capital. With tropical nights piling up, the regime has rolled out an unusually enthusiastic summer survival guide.

Some advice is straightforward: watermelon, cucumbers, mung beans and plenty of fluids. Then things get considerably more North Korean.

A doctor quoted by the ruling party’s Rodong Sinmun recommended “nutritious foods” including fish porridge, red-bean porridge and dog-meat soup, traditionally believed to help people endure summer heat.

The newspaper even published a separate feature celebrating dog-meat soup, reviving an old saying that soup spilled on your foot during the summer dog days “becomes medicine.” North Korea also held a national dog-meat cooking competition earlier this year, because apparently it's important there that someone determines who is the best at cooking dog.

For less adventurous diners, state media promoted samgyetang, a chicken soup stuffed with ginseng, rice and jujubes. Television broadcasts also offered advice on hydration, swimming and outdoor exercise.

According to Reuters no North Korean weather emergency would be complete without reminding everyone that Kim Jong Un is also very hot, possibly hotter than you.

State media recycled stories of Kim heroically sweating through previous summers, including a 2013 construction-site inspection where his clothes supposedly became soaked. Other reports recalled him trudging through mountains and rain in 2018 and inspecting a seafood factory in temperatures reportedly reaching 39°C.

What Kim is actually doing during this heat wave was conspicuously absent. North Korea has disclosed no heat-related death figures, while neighboring South Korea has reported more than 20.

So the official North Korean summer survival plan appears simple: drink water, eat some soup and, if things get unbearable, remember that the Supreme Leader once perspired at a construction site.