Under a broad agreement between Moscow and Pyongyang, Russia has approved the shipment of 447 goats to North Korea. The shipment is intended to help combat food shortages in the country ruled by Kim Jong Un’s regime.
The shipment will be delivered from Leningrad Oblast in Russia to the border town of Rason in North Korea.
Russian health services approved the shipment of 447 goats to North Korea – reports South Korean news agency Yonhap on Tuesday.
Following a veterinary inspection, 432 female and 15 male goats were sent to North Korea as part of the first batch of live animal exports, Yonhap reports, citing Friday’s statement from Rosselkhoznadzor.
Goat transport aims to provide dairy products to North Korean children facing chronic food shortages in this country.
On August 9, North Korean regime media reported that “efficient” goat farms had been built in parts of the western port city of Nampo. The Korean Central News Agency reported that “We were able to consolidate activities to efficiently provide dairy products to children in the region.”
Kim Jong Un, at a plenary session in June 2021, called for “establishing a policy to provide all children across the country with dairy products and other nutritious foods at the expense of state funds.” As you can see, we achieved it after 3 years with the help of Russian goats.
Yonhap recalls that the transport of animals takes place after Kim’s meetings with Vladimir Putin, which led to closer cooperation between their countries, also in military matters.
According to a report jointly published by the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank Group, in 2022, about one in six North Korean children under the age of 5 were stunted due to malnutrition. The report stated that 16.8 percent of children of this age suffer from stunted growth.
Although there is a shortage of milk in North Korea, according to the South Korean Defense Minister, Pyongyang’s munitions factories are operating at full capacity. From there, the missiles are sent to Russia.
Heavy rains in the northwestern region of North Korea on July 27 flooded 4,100 homes, public roads and railways – the regime’s KCNA news agency reported the disaster but did not give a death toll. The southern neighbor then offered humanitarian aid. Kim called South Korea “trash” in a public speech.