How South Korea fell in love with dogs and banned their slaughter for meat | South Korea

Then she adopted DeeJay, who had been rescued from a canine farm. “I’d had a year or two to witness what actually goes on at dog farms before I got my dog … it was an important learning experience,” mentioned Ko, a member of the Seoul-based electrical rock duo Love X Stereo.

“When you’re at a restaurant, you don’t really see the process, but that changes once you’re at a farm and see how horrible the situation is, how badly the dogs are treated and how they carry all these diseases … stuff that makes you feel that this is wrong in so many ways.”

Over the years, activists have documented the cruelty of the business. Dogs are subjected to deplorable conditionsconfined to cages amid putrid environment infested with ailments and faeces, and sometimes left with untreated wounds. They are fed discarded meals waste, typically containing dangerous substances. They are strangulated by hanging, overwhelmed, and even electrocuted, generally over extended durations.

Breeders, a lot of whom are older and see the canine meat commerce as a manner out of poverty, argue that circumstances have improved in recent instances.

In 2022, activists discovered an unlikely ally within the incoming president Yoon Suk-yeol and his spouse, Kim Keon Hee.

Voters knew that Yoon, a conservative, would take a more durable stance on North Korea’s nuclear programme and try and roll again the progressive home insurance policies of his liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in. But nobody recognized him as an ally within the marketing campaign that culminated within the nationwide meeting’s recent determination to make the canine meat commerce unlawful from 2027.

Yoon and Kim, who personal a number of dogs, had made no secret of their opposition to canine meat consumption. According to authorities knowledge, there are greater than 6 million pet dogs in South Korea, and demand for canine meat is at an all-time low. A recent Korea Research International opinion ballot commissioned by the animal rights group Aware discovered 93% of individuals had no intention of consuming canine meat, whereas 82% supported a ban, up from 73% in 2022.

The agriculture minister, Song Mi-ryung, mentioned criminalising the commerce mirrored South Korea’s transformation right into a society that prioritises animal welfare. “Now is the time for the government to take action to swiftly resolve the issue of dog meat consumption,” she mentioned.

Many have credited Moon, who was president from 2017-22, with boosting the marketing campaign in opposition to the commerce. In 2017, he adopted Tori, a rescue canine, and 4 years later steered the time had come to ban the consumption of dog meat.

‘People want animals as companions’

The regulation features a three-year grace interval earlier than the ban comes into impact, and monetary assist for breeders, however many within the business condemned it as an attack on their lifestyle.

Joo Young-bong, the top of a nationwide affiliation of canine meat farmers, mentioned producers have been in a “state of despair”.

“Prohibiting what people eat has no precedent in history,” Joo mentioned in a radio interview. “People have recovered their health and improved their wellbeing after eating dog meat. We are aware that consumption has been falling, but it is absurd to ban people from eating what they like. It feels like we’ve become a ‘dog republic’. There are more people walking around with dogs than there are holding babies.”

Kim Dong-hyun, a Seoul-based film-maker and proprietor of a Maltese canine, had doubts about condemning your entire business. “I don’t think old practices will die out that easily,” he mentioned. “The focus should be on fostering better conditions and removing the cruelty element for these animals rather than outright opposition. At the same time, I wonder if this is realistic when some say that beating a dog to death makes it taste better.”

Others mentioned the regulation would finish widespread struggling. “Like many of my friends, I was tricked into eating dog meat as a child,” mentioned Kim Seo-hyun, a pupil in Gyeonggi province. “Older generations say it’s good for our health, but knowing the cruel way dogs are treated makes me sick, and I am happy it is finally being banned.”

Ko acknowledged that canine meat was a supply of protein after the conflict, when thousands and thousands of Koreans battled poverty and malnutrition. “Dogs were everywhere then, so I think they were an obvious choice,” she mentioned. “But these days, people want animals as companions.”