A growing number of North Korean people are keeping pets, fueling rising sales of specialized dog food, clothing and other supplies in 2026. Pet ownership, once condemned as a capitalist habit, has spread into a popular new lifestyle trend in recent months, but some North Korean people say it has also become a yardstick that makes the gap between rich and poor feel more pronounced.
According to a source in South Pyongan province who spoke to Daily NK on Wednesday, the number of people raising dogs of various breeds as pets has visibly increased in major cities, including Pyongyang and Pyongsong, the capital of South Pyongan province. In the past, most people kept dogs for security purposes or as a food source, but now many regard their dogs as pets and treat them like family members, the source said.
Wealthier people in particular are increasingly buying specialized dog food, treats, leashes and clothing imported from China, according to the source. As recently as the early 2020s, dressing dogs in clothing was condemned as a “bourgeois lifestyle” or a symptom of “decadent capitalist culture,” but such criticism has largely disappeared, the source said.
Analysts believe the shift has been influenced in part by publicized images of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, with pets. In April 2026, state media reported that Kim and his daughter toured a newly built pet shop in Pyongyang’s Hwasong district, a large new housing development, ahead of its opening. As the ruling family’s affection for animals became public, it grew harder for people to openly criticize pet ownership, according to the analysis.
“People say that since the supreme leader and his daughter visited a pet store themselves, who would dare openly criticize someone for keeping a dog as a pet,” the source said. “Criticism has also decreased because people are worried that speaking out against it could cause trouble for them.”
North Korea pet culture turns a joke into reality
Amid the trend, some people have begun referencing a comedic stand-up routine by North Korean comedian Ri Sun Hong to poke fun at the situation. In the routine, a drunk man stumbles past a sign for a knitwear shop, but after part of a character on the sign appears to have fallen off, he misreads it as advertising a “dog clothing store” and asks, “Did I cross the border?” since such a shop seemed too far-fetched to exist in North Korea.
But as pet culture has spread in recent years, people now joke that a real “dog clothing store” could soon open. Dressing dogs in clothing and accessories is no longer unusual, prompting cynical remarks that the punchline of the old routine has become reality.
“Many people never imagined that dogs would be dressed in clothes, but it has now become reality,” the source said. “Some people feel it is contradictory that authorities regulate how people dress and wear their hair to conform to the socialist lifestyle, but do not raise the same objections to pet culture.”
With many North Korean people still struggling to make a living, some say that watching wealthier people buy specialized food and treats for their pets is deepening a sense of relative deprivation.
“When I hear that people buy separate food and treats for their dogs, I can’t help but say their dog has a better life than I do,” the source said. “For people who are struggling just to get by, it is hard to accept that kind of scene.”
Analysts say such reactions reflect less a rejection of pet culture itself than growing bitterness over the widening gap between social classes.
“What really makes people uncomfortable is not the act of keeping a dog itself, but the difference between those who can afford to spend money on it and those who cannot,” the source said. “The remark that a dog clothing store could really open reflects the complicated feelings many people have about the widening gap between rich and poor.”
Reporting from inside North Korea
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June 18, 2026 at 01:04AM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)