Korea Central Zoo

] Kim Il-sung later criticised the zoo as "capitalist" because it kept elephants and other foreign animals, and reportedly instructed the zoo to keep only native animals. [cite news|title=Pyongyang: The Hidden History of the North Korean Capital by Chris Springer|last=French|first=Paul|url=http://www.asianreviewofbooks.com/arb/article.php?article=363|date=2004-03-12|accessdate=2007-07-18|publisher=Asian Review of Books] However, as of 2001, the zoo kept a variety of non-indigeneous species of animals, including 400 given as gifts by heads of state and other foreign citizens. A significant number of those were the gift of a single Swedish citizen, Jonas Wahlstrom, director of the Skansen Aquarium; they are housed in the Animal Museum, which opened as a new exhibit in 1985. [cite news|url=http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2006/200609/news09/26.htm|date=2006-09-25|publisher=Korean Central News Agency|accessdate=2007-07-18|title=Animal Museum of Central Zoo in DPRK] According to a report by "The Daily Telegraph", a British newspaper, the zoo also has a parrot which can squawk "Long live the Great Leader, Comrade Kim Il-sung" in English. [cite news|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/main.jhtml?xml=/travel/2003/12/20/etnkorea.xml|publisher=The Daily Telegraph|date=2003-03-20|accessdate=2007-07-18|title=North Korea: The paranoid state|last=Kershaw|first=Andy] The Central Zoo conducted its first zoo exchange with South Korean zoos in April 2005, in which they received llamas and hippopotamuses, among other species of animals. Many of the animals sent south, which included Asiatic black bears, African ponies, and Siberian weasels, were first quarantined by South Korea before being shipped to their destinations. [cite news|publisher=International Herald Tribune|date=2005-05-15|accessdate=2007-07-18|title=A quarantine: Definitions differ in Seoul and the U.S.|last=Brooke|first=James|url=http://www.iht.com/articles/2005/05/15/news/korea.php]

Because dog ownership is forbidden in Pyongyang for hygiene reasons, and the government officially criticises the practise of keeping dogs as pets, the Central Zoo also has dogs on display for visitors to see, including eight raised by Kim Il-sung and given to the zoo after his death in 1994. [cite news|url=http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200011/200011050285.html|publisher=The Chosun Ilbo|date=2000-11-05|last=Kang|first=Chol-hwan|authorlink=Kang Chol-hwan|title=Dogs Are Hard to Find in Pyongyang|accessdate=2007-07-18] A pair of Jindo dogs given by Kim Dae-jung to Kim Jong-il at their 2000 summit, are also kept at the zoo; they produced a litter of five puppies in September 2001. [cite magazine|journal=The People's Korea|issue=169|date=2001-11-03|url=http://www1.korea-np.co.jp/pk/169th_issue/2001103105.htm|title=Exchanged Dogs Pup '2nd Generation' in Pyongyang and Seoul|accessdate=2007-07-18]

The Central Zoo has been criticised by "Lonely Planet" and "Asia Times". The "Lonely Planet" travel guide for Korea described it as a "depressing and uninspiring place, best avoided". [cite book|title=Lonely Planet: Korea|last=Bender|first=Andrew|date=2004|pages=p. 349|id=ISBN 1740594495|publisher=Lonely Planet] A 2006 report in the "Asia Times" described a North Korean movie entitled "Fighting Animals", purporting to be a nature documentary, showed caged animals, often of different species, fighting each other to the death. The report noted that many of the animal species portrayed, which included endangered species, were only kept at the Central Zoo and nowhere else in North Korea; on this basis, they accused zookeepers there of being complicit in the production of the film, including placing animals of different species into the same cage and goading them to attack each other. [cite news|url=http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Korea/HA28Dg01.html|title=North Korea: Red in tooth and claw|publisher=Asia Times|date=2006-01-28|accessdate=2007-07-18|last=Card|first=James]

References