The Korean peninsula is sweltering through a record-hot summer with 23 deaths attributed to the heat in the South, where new all-time highs were set on three days last week, peaking at 42.5C on Sunday.State media reported temperatures soaring up to 40C in the North, where the usual fiery threats of military action have been interspersed with humble cooking tips to combat the heat.A doctor cited by the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper suggested during Sunday's record heat that dog soup would be "beneficial for nutritional supplementation".And on Wednesday, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) proposed a menu of Samgye-tang: a broth soaking chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, dates and stamina-boosting ginseng."A Korean proverb says 'like cures like'," it said, describing the dish as a speciality of its southernmost border city of Kaesong.KCNA also boasted of the "incomparable medicinal effect" of the Kaesong ginseng used in the dish, attributing it to the region's "peculiar soil and water quality and unique cultivation method"."The Korean people have regarded it as a custom good for health to make hot foods in the hottest period of summer," it said.Such scorching suggestions contrast with traditional medicine cultures elsewhere in Asia, where winter melon soup is among the preferred summer remedies.Climate of isolationDog meat was once also a summertime delicacy in the South, but is set to be outlawed by February 2027.As the South reached record highs on Sunday, an AFP journalist toured the demilitarised zone that has split the two Koreas since their 1950-53 war ended with an armistice.