North Korea’s Heat Advice Sparks Surprise

Hands serving soup at a community kitchen — Photo: addkm / Shutterstock

North Korea’s state media is telling people to beat record heat with dog soup, cooling foods, and first-aid advice, while once again mixing health guidance with propaganda around Kim Jong Un’s weather endurance.

Quick Take

Rodong Sinmun published heat-health advice that included watermelon, cucumbers, mung beans, fish porridge, red-bean porridge, and dog-meat soup.
State outlets framed the heat as a health risk and pushed protective steps across radio, television, and print.
North Korean media has used the same heatwave pattern before, tying weather warnings to crop protection and national mobilization.
The reporting shows official messaging, but not whether the advice changed outcomes on the ground.

State Media Turns Heat Into a Health Campaign

North Korea’s ruling party newspaper published a health feature on August 2 that told readers how to cope with the heat. Reuters reported that a doctor at Pyongyang General Hospital recommended cooling foods such as watermelon, cucumbers, and mung beans, along with “nutritious foods” including dog-meat soup, fish porridge, and red-bean porridge. South Korean reporting said the newspaper also warned that cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hyperthyroidism can worsen in extreme heat.

Other state outlets echoed the same message through daily weather coverage and broadcast alerts. NK PRO said television ran special programs, weather updates, and on-screen captions throughout the day, while print media carried near-daily calls to guard against the heat. Reuters also said Korean Central Television aired advice on hydration, swimming, and outdoor exercise, showing that the campaign went beyond a single newspaper story.

Dog Soup Sits at the Center of the Message

The most eye-catching part of the coverage was dog-meat soup, which North Korean media treated as a traditional summer health tonic. Reuters said Rodong Sinmun ran a separate feature on dog-meat soup and repeated an old saying that it can become medicine during the dog days of summer. Other coverage noted that state media also praised chicken soup and other hot-weather foods, which suggests the messaging was meant to present a full menu of remedies rather than one stunt headline.

That detail matters because dog soup is both a food tradition and a propaganda tool. Reuters said the same coverage portrayed Kim Jong Un as a leader who endures harsh weather with ordinary people. That blend makes the message hard to read cleanly. It may be public-health advice, but it also fits a long pattern of North Korean media turning daily hardship into proof of loyalty, resilience, and state strength.

A Familiar Pattern of Heat, Risk, and Mobilization

This is not the first time North Korean media has treated extreme weather like a national campaign. Earlier reporting described heat and drought as a “natural disaster,” urged people to “join the struggle,” and called for “all resources” to protect crops. That older language was often more political than medical, but the 2026 coverage adds direct health advice, first-aid guidance, and food recommendations to the same mobilization style.

Due to heat wave in North Korea:
Kim propaganda recommends dog meat soup+++

Pyongyang: – More than 40 percent of the 26 million North Koreans suffer from hunger, because food shortages and malnutrition are part of the harassment that the Kim dictatorship applies against its own… pic.twitter.com/asI2f7hQek

— LiberlandPress (@PressLiberland) August 11, 2026

The broader picture is a state that appears to be managing a real climate risk while also shaping the story around it. The Climate Centre said the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Red Cross described a developing emergency and reported plans for mobile water pumps and irrigation support, while Reuters said officials were repairing irrigation equipment and digging wells and reservoirs. Even so, the available reporting does not show how widely the advice was followed or whether it reduced illness.

What Remains Unclear

The reporting leaves several gaps. No source in the supplied material provides heat-illness totals, hospital admission data, or a public health ministry circular that could show how the guidance was issued and enforced. NK PRO also said no outlet reported heat-related casualties, but that is not the same as proof that the crisis caused no harm. In North Korea, where outside access is limited, the line between public health messaging and political theater often stays blurred.