SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Dozens of South Korean canine farmers scuffled with police throughout a rally close to the presidential workplace on Thursday to protest a push by authorities to outlaw canine meat consumption.
Earlier this month, authorities and ruling celebration officers agreed to introduce laws by the yr’s finish that might ban the centuries-old observe. Individual lawmakers have submitted related anti-dog meat payments up to now, however this may be the primary time for the federal government to again such laws.
About 200 farmers, restaurant homeowners and others concerned within the canine meat business gathered in Thursday’s rally. They chanted slogans, sang, raised their fists and took turns making speeches criticizing the federal government’s transfer. One protester stated he would kill himself if the federal government and governing celebration transfer forward with the laws.
“We’ll fight. We’ll fight,” the protesters shouted.
Some farmers introduced dogs in cages on their vans however had been prevented from taking them to the protest website. A shoving match between some protesters and police occurred, with some farmers speeding to a road when a truck, apparently carrying dogs, approached.
Police detained three protesters, farmers stated. Police stated they couldn’t instantly verify the detentions.
Dog meat consumption is neither explicitly banned nor legalized in South Korea. But there have been calls to ban it over worries about South Korea’s worldwide picture and a rising public consciousness of animal rights. World celebrities together with American actress Kim Basinger and French actress Brigitte Bardot have known as for a ban.
The invoice pushed by the federal government and governing celebration would part out the canine meat business by 2027. It would offer monetary assist to farmers for dismantling their services and opening new businesses and provide vocational coaching and different advantages.
“To have a government-backed bill with the political will behind it to see it passed swiftly is a highly significant milestone, a point we have never reached before in this campaign to phase out this abusive industry,” the anti-animal cruelty group Humane Society International’s Korea workplace stated in written responses to questions from The Associated Press.
The anti-dog meat marketing campaign in South Korea lately gathered new momentum as first woman Kim Keon Heea pet lover, repeatedly voiced her assist for a ban. During Thursday’s rally, protesters made crude insults of Kim.
Famers are calling for an extended grace interval and direct monetary compensation for giving up their dogs. They additionally say their businesses will naturally disappear when older folks, their important clients, die.
“Most dog meat industry workers are in their 60s and 70s, which means they are seeking retirement, not new occupations. Since few young Koreans eat dog meat, the practice will fade away in the next 15 to 20 years anyhow,” stated Ju Yeongbong, a former secretary basic of a canine farmers’ affiliation who attended Thursday’s rally.
About 700,000 to 1 million dogs are slaughtered for consumption every year, a decline from a number of million 10 to twenty years in the past, in response to the affiliation. Some activists say the farmers’ estimates are inflated to indicate the business is just too huge to destroy.
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Associated Press author Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
