Kremlin Reassures Worried Russians "North Korean Workers Not Eating Your Dogs"

The massive casualties Russians are suffering in Ukraine and the pressure that creates for more troops have led to workforce shortages across the country. 

As a result, Russia has been importing thousands of North Koreans to fill jobs. But the North Koreans' penchant for eating dog meat has clashed with Russians' love of canine pets, leading to rumors, which grew into widespread concern that North Korean workers were eating Russian pets. This forced the Kremlin to issue a reassurance that this was a rumor, not a problem. Sounds eerily similar to certain US politicians accusing immigrants of eating pets. JL

Julian Ryall reports in The Telegraph:

Russian authorities have rushed to reassure worried residents that North Korean laborers have not been eating their dogs. It came after reports that pets were disappearing in Vladivostok circulated on social media, triggering concerns. Russia’s labor shortage has become more acute as a result of the war in Ukraine, with workers siphoned off into the army and the defence industries. North Koreans work in mines, logging camps and on construction sites across the country. “Hundreds” of North Korean work in warehouses for Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer.

Russian authorities have rushed to reassure worried Vladivostok residents that North Korean labourers have not been eating their dogs.

In rare footage of the hermit kingdom’s overseas workers, Koreans were filmed by a local Russian official at a construction site fawning over a canine that was reportedly there to guard the property.

Pointing to a pot of red liquid, he tells viewers: “There’s no blood in it, it’s just spicy kimchi [fermented cabbage]”.

 

“This is not a cafe or anything, it’s a work camp,” the official says.

 

It came after reports that pets were disappearing in the far eastern city circulated on social media, triggering one concerned citizen to enter the site and interrogate the Koreans about what they were doing with their dogs.

Dog is considered a delicacy in North Korea and is often served in a spicy stew known as “dangogi”, or sweet meat, that is particularly popular in the summer months. The meat is believed to provide stamina and increase male virility.

While the workers in the video are referred to only as “Koreans”, they speak in a North Korean accent and Russia is reported to have used cheap labour from the isolated nation for decades.

 

In 2017, one month after Pyongyang tested its Hwasong-12 intercontinental ballistic missile, the UN banned countries from employing North Korean workers under UN Resolution 2371.

Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, signed the resolution but is assumed to have ignored it.

Gaps in Russia’s workforce

The labourers are reported to have been sent to work in mines, logging camps and on construction sites across the country, an arrangement that allows Russia to plug gaps in its workforce while serving as a much-needed source of income for Pyongyang.

On Wednesday, the Moscow Times reported that “hundreds” of North Korean workers were being put to work in warehouses for Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer.

 

Russia’s labour shortage has become more acute as a result of the war in Ukraine, with workers siphoned off into the army and the defence industries.