- In April this year, South Korea’s very first lady Kim Keon promised to attempt to stop dog meat from being consumed in South Korea.
- Her declaration was met reaction from the dog meat market.
- Dog meat has actually been a standard food source for centuries in South Korea, however it has actually been succumbing to years.
South Korea’s dog meat trade seems on its last legs.
After being a standard food source for centuries, its location in South Korean food has actually ended up being objected to over the last couple of years.
In 2016, the market was accountable for providing about 2 million dogs for meat from about 17,000 dog farms. By 2023, the variety of dogs for meat had actually been up to around 700,000 to 1 million and the variety of farms had actually been up to about 3,000 to 4,000.
For centuries, South Koreans have actually consumed dog meat.
It’s believed to manage body temperature level so it was typically consumed on hot days. One typical stew was called “Mong-Mong Tang,” which equates to “woof-woof stew.”
Sources: Time, New York Times, Guardian, Guardian
Dog meat isn’t just consumed in South Korea. It’s consumed in Vietnam, Indonesia, China, North Korea, and throughout Africa.
According to an animal rights group, in 2017, roughly 30 million dogs were killed in Asia each year for their meat.
Sources: Time, BBC, New York Times, Guardian
South Korea’s dog meat trade has actually come under increasing analysis over the last years.
This is partially due to its track record as a rich nation, along with the truth it has a correct dog farming market.
Sources: Conversation, Time, BBC
Another factor is a few of the harsh strategies included.
In 2018, Marc Ching, an activist with the Animal Hope and Wellness Foundation, informed U.S.A. Today the concern was truly about how the dogs were being killed.
“In Korea, they normally put a noose around the dog’s neck and take them out back, hang them, and beat them,” Ching said. “Another approach is they simply smash their head open.”
“Sometimes they do electrocution,” he said. “They shock them and burn them or de-fur them. With electrocution often times they are still alive. It is awful.”
Sources: Conversation, Guardian, USA Today
The other factor is years of singing objecting from animal rights groups.
Protesting has actually had an effect somewhere else, too. Last month in Indonesia, authorities revealed it would prohibit dogs and cats from being butchered at a meat market on the island of Sulawesi after years of opposition by activists and celebs.
South Korea’s dog meat market has actually been on a down pattern for many years. In 2016, it provided about 2 million dogs for meat from about 17,000 dog farms.
The farms provided a range of dogs consisting of golden retrievers, Labradors, chihuahuas, Huskies, and Rottweilers.
Sources: New York Times, Al Jazeera
By 2023, the variety of dogs provided to dining establishments had actually been up to around 700,000 to 1 million and the variety of farms had actually been up to about 3,000 to 4,000.
Sources: New York Times, Al Jazeera, New York Times, Al Jazeera
In 2018, South Korea dealt with improved worldwide analysis when it hosted the Winter Olympics.
The federal government understood it was coming and provided dining establishments money rewards — 2 million won, or around $1,850 — to stop serving dog meat and get rid of any reference of it from their indications.
But it wasn’t used up by numerous dining establishments, and even the couple of that did accept the deal lost a lot business they returned to offering dog meat meals.
Source: NBC News
The dog meat trade took another struck in June 2018 when a South Korean court ruled that killing dogs to consume them was unlawful, although in fact consuming dog meat stayed legal.
In action, Cho Hwan-ro, a dog farm association agent, said, “Cows, pigs, chickens, and ducks are all raised to be taken in. Why not dogs?”
One theory for this resistance is referred to as “carnism.” Social psychologist Melanie Joy informed Euro News specified “carnism” as a procedure of classifying animals as either buddies or stock.
When an animal is classified as a farm animal, it’s more tasty for it to be killed and consumed, whereas the killing of buddy animals is harder to accept. Joy said it was a worldwide phenomenon however particularly used to particular animals in particular nations.
“We treat various animals really in a different way merely since we have actually been conditioned to do so,” she said.
Sources: National Geographic, Euro News
Korean dog meat farmers have actually argued that the dogs they breed are various from dogs kept as animals. But this difference has actually narrowed in South Korea over the last 3 years.
Joo Young Ha, a teacher at the Academy of Korean Studies, informed NBC News that in the late 1980s, individuals didn’t keep dogs as animals in South Korea. They were mostly a source of meat.
He said it was just in the 1990s that South Korea started to follow Western patterns like having dogs as animals. By 2019, almost 5 million South Korean houses had an animal.
Suh Eun-kook, a psychology teacher at Yonsei University, informed CNN that human’s have a various relationship with dogs since the animals supply “genuine complete satisfaction.”
“People judge individuals however dogs do not evaluate individuals,” he informed CNN.
He included: “This genuine love from dogs appears to have actually added to a growing appeal of keeping dogs as animals.”
In 2021, the federal government developed a task force to examine the dog meat market and think about a restriction after a survey revealed 84% of the Korean population no longer consumed dog meat.
That exact same survey revealed that just 59% of South Koreans actively wished to prohibit dog meat.
So far, after fulfilling more than 20 times, no restriction has actually been enforced.
In April, South Korea’s very first lady Kim Keon-Hee stated she “will attempt to put an end to dog meat usage prior to the period of this federal government ends.”
“I believe that is my task,” she said. In action, dog farmers rallied and made protests versus her.
But a South Korean political leader called Han Jeoung-ae informed Time she praised Kim’s statement and had actually advanced a proposed law to end the trade. Her expense would compensate farmers who voluntarily closed down their farms.
Sources: South China Morning Post, Al Jazeera, Time
Yoon Chu-wol, a dog meat restaurant owner in Seoul, informed Time the days of a thriving dog trade were already over.
“I just make one-third of the money I utilized to make,” Yoon said. “Young individuals do not come here. Only ailing old individuals come for lunch.”
Source: Time
It’s still uncertain if the dog meat market will be prohibited.
An association of dog farmers has actually requested for the possibility to keep it going till its primary customers — primarily amongst the elderly — pass away and the market naturally vanishes, approximating that would occur in about twenty years’ time.
Source: Time
But that demand has actually not been consented to and a variety of animal rights groups have actually said they oppose a sluggish wind-down of the market.
Source: Time
