North Korea is experiencing record high temperatures this week, leading state media to recommend dog-meat soup as a traditional remedy to help citizens cope with the heat. The capital city, Pyongyang, recorded a high of 98 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday, marking the highest temperature since weather tracking began.
State media outlet Rodong Sinmun published a health feature on August 2, in which a doctor from Pyongyang General Hospital suggested a variety of foods to help stay cool. These included watermelon, cucumbers, fish porridge, and mung beans. Alongside these, the newspaper highlighted dog-meat soup, describing it as a nutritious food and a traditional summer health tonic.
The newspaper dedicated a separate feature to the dish, reviving an old Korean proverb: "Even if dog-meat soup spills on the top of your food during the dog days of summer, it becomes medicine." Known euphemistically as “dangogi,” or sweet meat, dog meat has long been believed by both North and South Koreans to be a stamina food, often consumed during the hottest days of the year.
A waitress at Pyongyang House of Sweet Meat stated in 2018 that dog meat has been the nation's "national food since olden times." She added that the belief is "heat cures heat," leading people to eat dog meat and spicy dog soup on the hottest days, asserting it is healthier than other meats.
The hottest weeks of summer in North Korea are locally referred to as sambok, or the dog days of summer. Typically, temperatures during July and August range between 84 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit.