In the face of a proposed canine meat ban in South Korea, the Korea Dog Meat Farmers’ Association—which has lengthy opposed strikes to crack down on the business—mentioned that it was mulling the discharge of two million dogs close to authorities landmarks in Seoul in addition to the houses of lawmakers.
“If you ask how big the opposition from farmers is, we’re talking about releasing 2 million dogs we’re raising,” Joo Young-bong, the top of the affiliation said throughout a radio present final week. He then listed focused websites together with the presidential workplace, the agriculture minister’s home and places of work of lawmakers who’ve launched the payments.
According to a invoice which goals to finish South Korea’s canine meat commerce by 2027, introduced by the ruling People Power Party on Nov. 17, businesses—comparable to canine farms, butchers, retailers, and eating places—should undergo native authorities their plans to part out canine meat. They would even be given a three-year grace interval, in addition to monetary support from the federal government, to transition out of the commerce. The People Power Party additionally prompt a most five-year jail sentence or a superb of fifty million received ($38,000) for offenders of the ban.
The invoice is the results of uncommon bipartisan assist, after 44 lawmakers from each the ruling occasion and the opposition Democratic Party of Korea shaped a bunch final month to debate the difficulty. But among the many most distinguished advocates for the ban is first girl Kim Keon-hee, with whom South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol shares 5 cats and 6 dogs. (Yoon had beforehand drawn criticismeven from fellow occasion members, for proposing that the anti-dog meat invoice be named after his spouse.)
Last week, Kim additionally mentioned the legislative development to Queen Camilla throughout the couple’s state go to to London, In response, Queen Camilla mentioned they welcomed Kim’s efforts, a presidential spokesperson later advised reporters.
Governmental initiatives mulling canine meat bans in South Korea have stalled prior to now due to heated protests from these within the business.
Authorities say there are over 1,000 breeding farms and 34 slaughterhouses in South Korea, in addition to some 1,600 eating places that serve canine meat. Industry representatives say the numbers are far greater, with an estimated 3,500 farms and three,000 eating places that face dangers of shutting down ought to a ban be carried out.
Dog meat farmers are once more vehemently opposing the recent invoice, arguing that their livelihoods are at stake, and that the ban would erase the tradition of canine meat consumption. Besides the recent risk to launch dogs in Seoul, supporters of the canine meat commerce have resorted to comparable strikes prior to now, comparable to staging a dog meat tasting event in entrance of the National Assembly in 2019, whereas animal rights activists known as for a ban on the commerce.
The centuries-old follow of consuming canine meat, which is historically recognized to fight summer season warmth, is usually solely eaten by older individuals right now—the delicacies has come underneath rising controversy, amid animal cruelty issues and the rising reputation of dogs as family pets.
According to a 2023 Nielsen poll commissioned by the HSI, 86% of South Koreans have little intention of consuming canine meat, and 57% assist a ban on canine meat consumption. A Gallup Korea ballot final yr confirmed that 64% of respondents opposed canine meat consumption.
Joo, the chairman of the canine meat farmers’ affiliation, said that whereas he agreed with public well being and cruelty issues surrounding breeding and slaughter amenities, he mentioned that the answer was for the dogs to be acknowledged as livestock and farmers made to abide by meals security requirements. A earlier try by authorities to categorize dogs as livestock in 2008 was met with opposition from animal rights activists, who claimed that the transfer would legitimize the canine meat commerce, which is neither authorized nor explicitly prohibited.
The follow can also be a sore spot for the nation’s rising prominence on the worldwide stage, some argue. “Foreigners think South Korea is a cultural powerhouse. But the more K-culture increases its international standing, the bigger shock foreigners experience over our dog meat consumption,” said Han Jeoung-ae, an opposition lawmaker who helps a ban on canine meat, in June. Last yr, an alternate program sending South Korean highschool college students to a city in New Jersey was axed after activists complained concerning the canine meat commerce within the college students’ hometown of Gangwha.
The just lately proposed ban was welcomed by animal rights teams which have campaigned for years for an finish to the nation’s canine meat commerce. Human Society International, an animal advocacy group that has participated in rescue operations on South Korea’s canine farms, mentioned in a statement that the proposed ban was a “dream come true.”
Lola Webber, the director of HSI’s End Dog Meat marketing campaign, tells TIME that the group has been working with canine meat farmers in South Korea for almost a decade, encouraging them to modify to extra sustainable livelihoods. “Most of these farmers have experienced societal, family and financial pressure to get out of farming dogs,” she says. “With so few people wanting to eat dog meat in the country, it’s gotten harder to make a living and these farmers know the writing is on the wall for this cruel industry.”
“So the threats and protests that we always hear from the small but vocal dog farmer associations whenever a ban is suggested, is not really in the farmers’ best interests nor representative of farmers as a whole.”
