Sick Oxen May Rattle Kim Jong Il Regime as Food Shortages Worsen

North Korea’s dependence on animals to plow fields and haul harvests adds greater urgency to containing an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease before planting begins in the country, already dependent on food handouts.

“Oxen are so important in North Korea’s agricultural industry that the government owns them all,” said Kwon Tae Jin, a vice president of the Korea Rural Economic Institute in Seoul who specializes in North Korea’s agriculture industry. “During the rice planting season you can see more oxen than tractors in the country.”