Can you say, “kokiri kalbi?”

This is the cutest picture I could find.

Two baby elephants intended as a gift to North Korea are unlikely to survive the journey by air, Zimbabwean conservationists said Thursday.

The independent Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force said the 18-month-old elephants were being held in pens in the western Hwange National Park, along with pairs of most of the park’s other animal species bound for North Korea. The country is a longtime ally of Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe. [L.A. Times]

As tragic as I find this to be on one level, on another, they should be lovely grilled over yontans and served with spicy deonjang and wrapped in sesame leaves. I suppose somewhere, someone has said it tastes like chicken.

By the way, the best headline on this story goes to the A.P.: “Dumbo Drop.”

True story: I was once charged by an elephant in Hwange National Park in 1990. The wildlife viewing at the waterholes was great, and it’s not far from Victoria Falls (I almost fell in). At the time, there were plenty of elephants at Hwange, though pretty much everything in Zimbabwe has deteriorated since then.

Say, isn’t it time for Robert Mugabe to die already?