North Korea’s starving population has resorted to eating badgers and tigers to survive, a study has found.
The study, conducted by a team of British and Norwegian scientists, revealed that wild animals had been harvested for food, skins and furs, while their bones, paws and dried organs were sold for use in traditional remedies, threatening to wipe out endangered species.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which shattered North Korea’s economy, a thriving black market of wildlife products emerged as people were no longer able to rely on the state for food, medicine or other basic needs.
North Korea borders an area of China where Siberian tigers are returning and some animals are believed to have crossed the border, while others are suspected of being illegally traded.
North Korea borders an area of China where Siberian tigers are returning – Chi Shiyong/VCG/Getty Images
Joshua Elves-Powell, of University College London, co-author of the four-year study, said: “Almost every mammal species in North Korea larger than a hedgehog is opportunistically captured for consumptive use or trade. Even highly protected species are being traded, sometimes across the border to China.”
North Korea is one of the world’s most repressive and isolated states, making it nearly impossible to conduct research there. Instead, researchers interviewed 42 defectors, or refugees, in South Korea and Britain, including former soldiers, hunters, merchants and consumers of wild animal products.
They said mass hunting was driven by the collapse of the communist government’s state distribution system in the late 1990s, which plunged the country into a famine that killed between 600,000 and one million people.
“As well as a domestic market in wild meat and animal body parts, an international trade developed in which smugglers would try to sell North Korean wildlife products across the border into China,” Mr Elves-Powell said.
Plans to restore Siberian tiger at risk
Interviewees said the endangered Siberian tiger and Amur leopard, which can also be found in north-east China and Siberia, were among the hunted animals.
North Korea is one of the few countries in the world that is not a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites), which regulates the international trade of threatened animals.
Researchers warned that the situation in North Korea threatened to undermine China’s efforts to restore the Siberian tiger in its northeastern provinces, leading Beijing to breach its Cites commitments.
North Korea, ruled by Kim Jong Un, is one of the few countries not signed up to an international convention on endangered species – STR/KCNA VIA KNS/AFP
“Our investigation shows that tigers which disperse into North Korea are at risk of being killed for their body parts, which may negatively impact the region’s recovering tiger population,” they said.
Other animals consumed in North Korea include bears, otters, deer and the long-tailed goral, a species of wild goat that is classified as vulnerable under Cites, according to the report, published in the journal Biological Conservation.
Deer antlers were one of the most commonly mentioned items used in traditional Korean medicine, along with the organs, paws and bile of bears.
Interviewees also reported the existence of state-run wildlife farms, created to breed bears, deer, otters and pheasants before trafficking their body parts for illicit trade.
The researchers concluded: “There is clearly a serious risk that the unsustainable exploitation of wildlife in North Korea has severe consequences, including the extirpation of key species and potential defaunation of North Korean landscapes.”
