SEOUL - NORTH Korea is promoting the virtue of dog meat as a way to beat the summer heat and says customers are packing Pyongyang restaurants which serve the traditional dish.

The North has been hosting dog meat food contests to help develop the traditional cuisine, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said on Saturday.

Dog meat is called dangogi, or 'sweet meat', a euphemism coined by North Korea's founder Kim Il-Sung in the early 1980s. Dangogi-jang is dog meat soup.

'Our ancestors believed hot dangogi soup consumed during the dog days of summer helped prevent diseases from malnutrition and bolster stamina,' KCNA said.

It cited a 17th century book on herbal medicine to tout the nutritional value of dog meat. According to the book, dog meat is especially good for the digestive organs, blood circulation and bone marrow and improves stamina.

'During the current dog days of summer, many customers are visiting dangogi restaurants in Pyongyang,' KCNA said.

'Dangogi-jang is becoming popular even among Koreans living abroad and foreigners as well,' it said.

Dog meat is enjoyed in both North and South Korea, especially during hot summer days.

But while dog meat restaurants in the South are assuming a low-profile because of international criticism, in the North dangogi cuisine is a source of pride and a mark of national identity.

Defectors say Pyongyang has many dangogi restaurants but note that dog meat has become a luxury elsewhere in the impoverished communist state.

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