No way to know if this is western propaganda or if it is true, but I was in a presentation years ago, where the speaker remarked that the starvation in NK was so grim, that all animal life there was being exterminated. She compared it to what happened on Easter Island.
So, no fish in any stream, no frogs, certainly no pet dogs or cats, can be found there, because they've all been eaten. Even some species of bugs are in peril. In NK, a dog or several cats would be a wedding feast.
She describes village peasants gathered in fields with huge nets to catch any migratory birds that may be passing by. In fact, this practice was done for so long and to such a degree, that the migratory birds learned to avoid the area, and now migrate around NK.
While we all live in the 21st century, the people of NK are trapped in a much more primitive era. An era in which a dog or a cat would be a celebrated feast.