Dog meat: Why is it a delicate matter in South Korea?

It is among the many most controversial questions a foreigner can ask in South Korea – though the response and reply typically is dependent upon the age of the person requested.

“It’s so tiring, I all the time must make clear that I’ve by no means eaten it. Canine dishes are principally for the elderly in South Korea, however foreigners typically generalise the follow,” says Park Eun-kyoung, a guide in her 30s at the moment working in Germany, who admits to discovering the query offensive at instances.

“It carries a unfavorable connotation, implying that Koreans eat one thing extremely inappropriate and this tradition is barbaric.”

But the times of fielding questions like these look numbered: earlier this week, South Korea’s authorities handed a brand new regulation to ban the breeding, butchering, distribution and sale of dogs for meat by 2027.

It will successfully finish a centuries-old follow. Historically, cows had been extremely valued and, explains Dr Joo Young-ha, an anthropology professor on the Graduate School of Korean Studies, they had been so prized a authorities allow needed to be obtained to slaughter them up till the late nineteenth Century.

And so, different protein sources had been wanted. For these dwelling within the Korean peninsula, canine meat was the most effective choices, loved by folks throughout the category spectrum, though there have been all the time those that prevented it.

But very similar to another meat, well-loved dishes utilizing the product emerged, equivalent to canine meat soup, known as “bosintang”, and boiled canine meat slices. Speak to older South Koreans, and plenty of nonetheless extoll its virtues as a delicacy which is simple to digest and boosts power, particularly throughout a scorching summer season.

So it got here as a shock to many throughout the 1988 Seoul Olympics – at that time, the biggest worldwide occasion South Korea had ever hosted – when criticism of canine meat consumption started hitting the headlines world wide.

“Initially, many individuals, particularly the social elites had been angered, perceiving it as a disrespect to different cultures. However, over time, extra folks felt disgrace and have become extra crucial,” Dr Joo stated.

Fast-forward greater than three a long time, and South Korea is a really completely different nation, not least in how many individuals eat canine meat.

According to a Gallup ballot final yr, solely 8% of individuals had tried canine meat prior to now 12 months, a big decline from 27% in 2015. Figures supplied by the Korean Association of Edible Dog, an organisation representing the business, additionally level to a decline.

It says there at the moment are about 3,000 canine breeding farms in South Korea, a big lower from 10,000 within the early 2010s, but additionally significantly greater than the federal government’s determine, which places the quantity at about 1,100.

Meanwhile, pet possession has surged. Survey information from 2022 suggests one in 4 South Koreans personal pets, in response to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

In December, it was reported that pet strollers had outsold child buggies for the primary time final yr, though this could possibly be as a lot a mirrored image of South Korea’s declining delivery fee as its love of animals.

And then there’s the president, Yoon Suk Yeol and first girl Kim Keon Hee, each famed pet lovers, with six dogs and 5 cats.

It has taken this authorities lower than two years to usher in the regulation that earlier administrations didn’t enact for the reason that concept was first mooted a long time in the past. The suggestion it could possibly be reviewed beneath Mr Yoon’s predecessor was blocked amid harsh criticism.

This new regulation now means, in three years’ time, these concerned within the commerce will face both fines or jail time in the event that they proceed their businesses. It doesn’t, nonetheless, outlaw the consuming of canine meat.

Even so, it has been welcomed by activists, together with Jo Hee Kyung, the pinnacle of the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA), who has been campaigning on the difficulty for the reason that late Nineteen Nineties.

The ban was, she says, the “solely choice” to cease abuse of dogs, including: “I hope the world stops abusing animals within the identify of custom or tradition.”

But not everyone seems to be satisfied, not least those that make their dwelling within the canine meat commerce.

“We do recognise that much more folks don’t eat canine meat in comparison with those that do. We do know the market is lowering… however nonetheless, it is our proper to run a business,” stated Joo Yeong-bong, an skilled canine farmer and the president of the Korean Association of Edible Dog.

He argues that higher regulation of the business – beforehand there was little to none – might have handled many issues over animal rights.

And then there’s Dr Ahn Yong Geun, a former meals engineering professor at Chungnam National University who’s sometimes called “Dr Dog Meat”.

One of the only a few canine meat researchers in South Korea, he began his analysis throughout the 1988 Olympics, annoyed by what he felt was a passive response by the federal government and academia to abroad criticism, and now argues for the advantages of consuming canine meat.

According to Dr Ahn, it has a low, unsaturated fats content material and will have served as a wholesome substitute for beef or pork.

Instead, it seems to be set to be relegated to historical past – a transfer he questions as being in battle with the basic freedoms outlined within the nation’s structure.

“You can not dictate what folks can and may’t eat,” says canine farmer Mr Joo.

It is a sense shared by Lee Bora, a canine proprietor in her 30s who’s against consuming canine meat and welcomes the brand new regulation, however provides she is “form of nervous” about its implications.

“Emotionally, I want folks would not breed and slaughter dogs for meals,” she says.

“However, in precept, I believe dogs usually are not so completely different from cows or pigs.”