It has finally happened, Korea has passed the ban on dog meat. This ban will go into affect in 2027 giving people in the industry three years to find another job:
The National Assembly passed a special bill banning dog meat consumption Tuesday, paving the way for ending the practice that has fallen out of favor in recent decades.
The bill, which bans the breeding, butchering, distributing and selling of dogs for meat, passed through the parliament with 208 votes in favor and 2 abstentions.
The ruling People Power Party (PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) have jointly pushed for the ban amid growing awareness of animal rights and an increasing number of pet owners in the country.
The bill also calls for providing subsidies to help people in the dog meat industry switch jobs.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Some people have pigs as pets, so should pork be banned too?:
South Korea is planning to introduce a ban on dog meat consumption by the end of this year, Seoul authorities said Friday.
Eating dog meat is neither explicitly prohibited nor legalized in South Korea, and successive governments have failed to make progress on pledges to stop the practice.
Public and political momentum to outlaw dog meat has been growing in the country as the centuries-old practice has fallen out of favor with most young Koreans. It has also attracted international criticism from international rights activists.
The ruling People Power Party on Friday laid out a timetable for action.
“We are planning to enact a Special Act to ban dog meat within this year to address this issue as soon as possible,” said ruling party lawmaker Yu Eui-dong, after a meeting at parliament attended by the Agriculture Ministry officials and animal rights groups.
The special act will allow a three-year period to phase out the industry. If the bill passes the legislature before the year-end, the dog meat ban would come into full effect in 2027.
Washington Post
You can read more at the link, my biggest problem with dog farming in South Korea is that some of these farmers are very inhumane with dogs raised in small cages and then beaten to death to better tenderize the meat.
Korea will have come a long way if lawmakers end up banning dog meat:
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| From left, Reps. Han Jeong-ae, Nam In-soon, Ko Min-jung and Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, Seoul City Councilor Kim Ji-hyang and HSI Korea Executive Director Chae Jung-ah hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday, calling for a legislative ban on the consumption of dog meat. Newsis |
Lawmakers and animal rights advocates joined forces, Monday, to urge the National Assembly to introduce a legislative bill that will permanently end the consumption of dog meat and eliminate the cruel industry.
Korea Times
The group of four lawmakers, all of whom are from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, one Seoul City councilor and an animal rights advocate delivered their message in a press conference at the Assembly in Seoul, one day ahead of this year’s “chobok,” which marks the beginning of the hottest part of summer.
Traditionally, Koreans consumed dog meat on the day to replenish their strength against the hot weather, but this practice has been on a sharp decline, and more people opt for samgyetang, a soup containing chicken and ginseng.
You can read more at the link, but I can remember the years prior to the 2002 World Cup where the boshintang restaurants could be easily spotted. However, because of the international attention of the World Cup these restaurants became much more discreet. Now a days I hardly ever see them as Korean consumers have largely given up on eating dog meat.
My biggest problem with dog farming in South Korea is that some of these farmers are very inhumane with dogs raised in small cages and then beaten to death to better tenderize the meat.
This is just absolutely horrible to do to any animal. The stench of all these decaying dogs must have been overwhelming:
One of the four surviving dogs. (Screen grab from Care’s YouTube channel)
Over a thousand dead dogs were found on the grounds of a house in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, and police are investigating a man in his 60s on charges of violating animal protection law.
The man said he collected abandoned dogs and starved them to death, but animal rights activists allege that he was paid by dog breeders to get rid of dogs who couldn’t get pregnant anymore or whose commercial value had dipped.
A representative of animal rights group Care told cable news channel MBN that the man was paid 10,000 ($7.60) won per dog to “take care of them,” and he just locked them up and starved them to death from 2020.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
I guess animal rights is a pretty safe issue for the highly criticized first lady to come out in public in support of:
First lady Kim Keon-hee called for animal rights in her first media interview given since her husband, President Yoon Suk-yeol, took office on May 10.
Korea Times
“Korea and China are the only two economically successful countries that consume dog meat,” Kim said during an interview with local newspaper Seoul Shinmun that was published on Monday. “I believe the universal culture (of not consuming dog meat) should be shared in Korea with other developed countries. Otherwise, it could stoke an anti-Korean sentiment,” Kim said.
To end the practice, Kim said the government could support dog meat traders to transition into new industries, underlining the unsanitary environment in which dogs are raised before being consumed as meat.
“Dog meat is not good for health. Dogs that are raised to be consumed as meat are locked in small cages, where they eat, sleep and defecate all their lives. And some of them are even fed antibiotics,” Kim said. “Ultimately, dog meat consumption must be stopped out of respect for man’s best friend and life.”
You can read more at the link.
If dogs can be infected with the coronavirus could they spread it as well?
A pet dog in Hong Kong has contracted COVID-19 from its owner in what could be the first known human-to-animal transmission, local health authorities said Wednesday.
Korea Times
The Pomeranian is now under quarantine after repeated tests confirmed a “low-level infection” of the virus, though it shows no symptoms of the disease, a spokesman for Hong Kong’s Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department said.
You can read more at the link.
This October 2018 file photo shows President Moon Jae-in patting a female dog named Gomi, one of the two Pungsan-breed dogs given to Moon by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after their third summit in Pyongyang in September. Moon said in a Twitter message on Nov. 12, 2018, that Gomi gave birth to six white puppies — three male and three female — on Nov. 9 and all look healthy. (Yonhap)
