In North Korea, summer is not a good time to be a dog.
In the sizzling heat, North Korea's biggest brewery is pumping out twice as much beer as usual, Pyongyang residents are lining up to get their "bingsu" — a syrupy treat made with shaved ice — and restaurants are serving up bowl after bowl of the season's biggest culinary attraction: spicy dog meat soup.
Euphemistically known as "dangogi," or sweet meat, dog has long been believed to be a stamina food in North and South Korea and is traditionally eaten during the hottest time of the year, giving a sad twist to the old saying "dog days of summer."
Food are served on a table during the lunch time at Pyongyang House of Sweet Meat, a restaurant specialized in dishes made of dog meat, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Euphemistically known as "dangogi," or sweet meat, dog has long been believed to be a stamina food in North and South Korea and is traditionally eaten during the hottest time of the year, giving a sad twist to old saying "dog days of summer." (AP PhotoDita Alangkara)
The dates are fixed according to the lunar calendar and dog meat consumption centers around the "sambok," or three hottest days — July 17 and 27, and Aug. 16 this year. Demand appears to be especially high this year because of a heatwave in East Asia. Temperatures in the North have been among the highest ever recorded, hovering near 40 degree Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in several cities.
As is the case with almost everything, good statistics are not available for how much dog is eaten in the North.
But in South Korea, where even President Moon Jae-in has dogs as pets, at least 2 million canines are slaughtered and eaten each year even though its popularity as food is waning. While many older South Koreans believe dog meat aids virility, younger people generally are either against the practice or indifferent to it and there has been increasing pressure to ban it altogether.
A waitress shows dishes made of dog meat at at Pyongyang House of Sweet Meat, a dog specialty restaurant in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Euphemistically known as "dangogi," or sweet meat, dog has long been believed to be a stamina food in North and South Korea and is traditionally eaten during the hottest time of the year, giving a sad twist to old saying "dog days of summer." (AP PhotoDita Alangkara)
On both sides of the Demilitarized Zone, dogs used for their meat are raised on farms for that express purpose.
"It's been our national food since olden times," explained Kim Ae Kyong, a waitress at the Pyongyang House of Sweet Meat, the largest dog specialty restaurant in the North Korean capital. "People believe that heat cures heat, so they eat dog meat and spicy dog soup on the hottest days. It's healthier than other kinds of meat."
The restaurant's menu lists more than a dozen dog dishes, including ribs, hind legs and boiled dog skin.
A cashier counts money at at Pyongyang House of Sweet Meat, a restaurant specialized in dishes made of dog meat, in Pyongyang, North Korea, Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Euphemistically known as "dangogi," or sweet meat, dog has long been believed to be a stamina food in North and South Korea and is traditionally eaten during the hottest time of the year, giving a sad twist to old saying "dog days of summer." (AP PhotoDita Alangkara)
Like their neighbors to the South, North Korean attitudes toward dogs are changing.
It is increasingly common to see people walking their dogs on leashes in Pyongyang and other cities in the North, a trend that seems to have just begun to catch on over the past few years. Feral dogs are common in the countryside, however, and left to fend for themselves.
How leader Kim Jong Un feels about all this isn't known.
But in January he made a point of donating 30 pet dogs of seven breeds — including a bulldog — to Pyongyang's newly renovated Central Zoo, where dogs are put on display much like the wild animals. The canine center at the zoo is, in fact, one of its most popular attractions, and posters near the cages explain how to properly care for and feed — not eat — canine companions.
Shohei Ohtani will be in the batter's box for the season's first pitch Tuesday, arriving at the Tokyo Dome coronated a World Series champion.
Twenty-nine other teams will be trying to dethrone his Los Angeles Dodgers, who flexed their financial might again during the offseason hoping to become the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.
Blake Snell and prized rookie Roki Sasaki joined a pitching staff headed by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who starts the opener in his native Japan against the Chicago Cubs. Ohtani and the Dodgers have been the key to Major League Baseball boosting Asian audiences; they opened last season against San Diego in Seoul, South Korea.
“We'd normally spread things among the teams a little differently,” baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “We felt like we had a unique opportunity with a unique person and are trying to do everything we can to capitalize on it.”
MLB increased revenue to a record $12.1 billion last year, up from $11.6 billion in 2023. Attendance increased 0.9% to an average of 29,568, the highest since 2017 and the first increase in consecutive years since 2011-12, and Manfred predicts MLB will top 70 million for the third straight year. The Dodgers' five-game World Series win over the Yankees averaged 15.81 million viewers, the Fall Classic's high since 2017.
Three of the four League Championship Series teams were among the biggest spenders: The Dodgers were second in payroll and luxury tax at $374 million, trailing only the New York Mets at $430 million and $400,000 ahead of the Yankees.
At the bottom, the Athletics spent just $66 million during their last year in Oakland, and the increased disparity has led to renewed talk of owners seeking a salary cap when the current five-year labor contract expires after the 2026 season.
“There’s no reason for us to be focused on collective bargaining,” Manfred said. “We haven’t even formulated a bargaining position.”
Mets owner Steve Cohen, flush with his hedge fund fortune, made the biggest offseason move when he lured outfielder Juan Soto from the Yankees with a record $765 million, 15-year contract.
“I'll compete under any circumstance,” Cohen said. “You tell me the rules, and I'll compete against them.”
Teams with lesser resources know payroll doesn't always equate with success through multiple playoff rounds and player attrition as bodies buckle under data-driven maximum effort. The only top spenders to win titles since the current luxury tax started have been the 2020 Dodgers, 2018 Boston Red Sox and 2009 Yankees.
The A's left the Oakland Coliseum, where they had played since moving from Kansas City for the 1968 season, and will spend at least three seasons at 14,000-capacity Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento before moving to a planned ballpark in Las Vegas.
“The ballpark is charming,” Manfred said. “I do think that fans are going to have an opportunity to see Major League Baseball all season long in a really intimate environment.”
The Tampa Bay Rays were forced from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg this season following damage caused by Hurricane Milton and will play home games across Tampa Bay at 11,000-capacity Steinbrenner Field, the Yankees' spring training base.
“The opportunity to play on the Tampa side could give insights into the Tampa Bay market as a whole that could be useful for the club moving forward,” Manfred said.
MLB will produce the local television broadcasts of Arizona, Cleveland, Colorado, Minnesota and San Diego this season as it moves toward trying to consolidate rights to as many teams as possible. Cincinnati and Milwaukee had planned to join but withdrew and partnered with Main Street Sports Group, the renamed Diamond networks that will televise nine clubs.
MLB's national contracts with Fox and Turner Sports expire after the 2028 season and ESPN is terminating its deal after 2025, three years early.
“We've literally had a really significant number of interested parties and they’re going to have to sort themselves out a little bit before I could give you a good feel for timeline,” Manfred said.
After limiting defensive shifts for the 2023 season, offense has remained near record lows. Last's year batting average of .2433 was higher in the post-1900 era than only .237 in 1968, .239 in 1908, .242 in 1967 and .2427 in 2022. There were just seven qualified .300 hitters, the second-fewest above only the six in 1968. There were 55 in 1999. Four-seam fastballs averaged a record 94.3 mph last year, up from 91.9 mph when tracking began in 2008.
Spring training testing of the Automated Ball/Strike challenge system has been generally well received, though there have been some opponents, most notably three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer. MLB will consult with owners, management officials and players before making a decision on 2026 regular-season use.
“Reaction certainly from fans has been overwhelmingly positive,” Manfred said. “I think that there’s confirmation that the use of the technology and the renderings and the scoreboard is really a fan engagement addition that people really like.”
Gerrit Cole’s season-ending elbow injury renewed attention on among baseball's biggest issues. Following an MLB study that concluded rising velocities, pitch shaping and emphasis on maximum effort are the likely causes of the vast increase in pitcher injuries, Manfred said it’s too early to explore rules changes.
“Our focus right now is training methods, particularly offseason training methods,” Manfred said. “It’s going to be somewhere between education and recommendations. It’s very hard to tell people you can’t do X, Y and Z, right? They’re grown men and there’s no way to monitor it during the offseason.”
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FILE - The roof of the Tropicana Field is damaged the morning after Hurricane Milton hit the region, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024, in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP Photo/Mike Carlson, File)
Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani follows through on a solo home run in the third inning of a spring training baseball game against the Yomiuri Giants in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, March 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Hiro Komae)
