The parliament of South Korea passed a bill on Tuesday, banning the breeding, slaughtering, and selling of dogs for their meat, a traditional practice activists have criticized as an embarrassment for the country.
South Korean cuisine has historically included dog meat, with activists noting that up to a million dogs were once annually killed for the trade. However, consumption has markedly decreased as Koreans increasingly adopt pet ownership.
Younger, urban South Koreans consider eating dog meat a taboo, and mounting pressure from animal rights activists has led to calls for the government to outlaw the practice.
President Yoon Suk Yeol, an avowed animal lover, has seen increasing official support for a ban on dog meat. He, along with First Lady Kim Keon-hee, who is a vocal critic of dog meat consumption, has adopted several stray dogs and cats.
The proposed legislation, jointly introduced by both the governing and primary opposition factions, achieved unanimous approval through a resounding 208-0 vote.
Following Yoon’s ultimate approval, there will be a three-year grace period before the policy comes into full effect.
The legislation stipulates that engaging in the breeding, selling, or slaughtering of dogs for meat can result in penalties of up to three years of imprisonment or fines amounting to 30 million won ($23,000).
‘Now there is no longer any justification for being criticised as a ‘dog-eating country’,’ said Thae Yong-ho, a ruling People Power Party lawmaker who proposed the bill.
‘The ruling and opposition parties and the government must now take the lead in protecting… animal rights,’ he said in a statement.
Activists also welcomed the bill, saying it was “history in the making”.
‘We reached a tipping point where most Korean citizens reject eating dogs and want to see this suffering consigned to the history books,’ JungAh Chae, executive director of Humane Society International/Korea, said in a statement.
‘Today our policymakers have acted decisively to make that a reality,’ she said.
‘While my heart breaks for all the millions of dogs for whom this change has come too late, I am overjoyed that South Korea can now close this miserable chapter in our history and embrace a dog friendly future.’
In a survey released on Monday by Seoul-based think tank Animal Welfare Awareness, Research, and Education, nine out of 10 people in South Korea said they would not eat dog meat in the future.
Tuesday’s vote was a pioneering decision globally, said activist group Animal Liberation Wave, adding it would pave the way for protecting the rights of other animals.
‘The journey towards a ‘dog meat-free Republic of Korea’ can be a starting point for not only liberating dogs, but also presenting different standards and a future for other species of animals that are subject to industrial exploitation, such as cows, pigs, and chickens,’ it said in a statement.
Opposition from dog farming communities has impeded previous initiatives to ban dog meat. The forthcoming law takes a different approach, incorporating compensation measures to assist businesses in transitioning away from the trade.
Government statistics reveal that approximately 1,100 dog farms breed hundreds of thousands of dogs annually, supplying restaurants nationwide.
South Koreans have a tradition of consuming dog meat as a summertime delicacy, with the greasy red meat, painstakingly boiled for tenderness, believed to provide an energy surge to combat the heat.
The country’s existing animal protection law is primarily geared towards preventing the cruel slaughter of dogs and cats, without explicitly forbidding their consumption.
In spite of this, authorities have employed the existing law and other hygiene regulations to enforce strict measures against dog farms and restaurants, particularly in preparation for significant global events like the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.