North Korea begins farming 'delicious' black swans as nation faces spiralling food shortages

North Korea begins farming 'delicious' black swans as nation faces spiralling food shortages - KCNA
North Korea begins farming 'delicious' black swans as nation faces spiralling food shortages - KCNA

North Korea is hailing "delicious" black swans as a nutritious source of meat as it begins farming the birds on an industrial scale amid a chronic food shortage.

It comes after Kim Jong-un this year declared a food crisis in the hermit kingdom, urging citizens to come up with innovative ways to solve the country’s persistent “food problem”.

A local Communist Party secretary led a ceremony to open a “swan corral” at one of the country’s biggest duck farms in eastern North Korea.

Swan meat was hailed as "delicious" and was said to have "medicinal value”, according to party-run media outlet Rodong Sinmun. Their breeding for slaughter “actively contributes to improving people’s lives", the report added.

The meat was also said to be “an exceptional health food of the 21st century with a unique taste and extremely high nutritional value”.

Speaking in July 2020 in relation to the project, a member of the Agriculture Ministry claimed that swan meat had a higher protein content than many other meats and was easier to digest.

North Korea begins farming 'delicious' black swans as nation faces spiralling food shortages - KCTV
North Korea begins farming 'delicious' black swans as nation faces spiralling food shortages - KCTV

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation estimates that North Korea is short about 860,000 tons of food for this year, the equivalent to two months worth of supplies.

The situation shows little sign of improving in the medium-term, with party sources saying that the border with China, the primary route by which food is imported, will likely remain closed until 2025. The border was first shut in January 2020 at the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

North Koreans are familiar with food shortages. During the now infamous ‘Arduous March’ of the 1990s, it is estimated that between 1 and 3 million people starved to death.

Earlier this year Kim said in an address to the Korean Workers’ Party Central Committee: “The people’s food situation is now getting tense as the agricultural sector failed to fulfil its grain production plan due to the damage by the typhoon last year."

The black swan is native to Australia. Prior to European colonisation of the country in the 1800s, it was thought the existence of black swans was not possible, with the phrase “all swans are white” long used as a standard example of a well-known truth.

Though the bird is rarely eaten by humans, mute swans are still part of the traditional diet in Denmark where roasted swan is still considered a favourite dish of the nation. In Australia, the black swan is protected, making it illegal to kill or eat one.