Bird influenza has broken out in North Korea, as it has in several other Asian countries. Normally, you kill lots of domestic birds (chickens and ducks) in the area of the outbreak to stop it, and to prevent the mutation of the fly virus to something that people can catch. If this happens, you can have a worldwide pandemic that can kill millions. In the case of North Korea, it is feared that the poverty and hunger up there will prevent all the needed birds from being killed, or starving North Koreans digging up the dead birds and eating them.