‘NOW IS THE TIME TO PUT AN END TO DOG EATING’: SOUTH KOREAN LAWMAKERS

Sun 17 September 2023:

Legislators in South Korea intend to put forth legislation that will forbid the sale and consumption of dog meat, a controversial, centuries-old practice that is neither explicitly forbidden nor permitted at the moment, RT reported.

The legislation, which would provide the necessary votes to approve the bill, was reportedly submitted by the main opposition Democratic Party on Thursday and received swift backing from the ruling People Power Party.

“About 10 million South Korean households raise pets. Now is the time to put an end to dog eating,” the head of the ruling party’s policy committee, Park Dae-chul, said, as quoted by Bloomberg.

Park, who is also the party’s chief policymaker, used the term ‘Kim Keon-hee’s bill’, referring to the first lady, who has been campaigning to end the country’s practice of eating dog meat. The naming, however, sparked criticism even from fellow party members, who accused Park of fawning over the president.

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The first lady has supported a ban on all types of dog meat trade and consumption. Last month, she urged the National Assembly to pass a law to put an end to the practice, and promised to “campaign and make efforts to bring an end to dog meat consumption.”

“Humans and animals should coexist,” she said at a press conference hosted by a civic group in late August, adding that “Illegal dog meat activities should be put to an end.”

On the Korean Peninsula, eating dog meat is a long-standing tradition that has recently been declining.

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According to the dog farmer’s group, despite the fact that there are now half as many farms in South Korea as there were a decade ago, 700,000 to a million dogs are still butchered annually.

Activists argue that these figures might be exaggerated to portray the industry as too substantial to dismantle. The government-civilian task force established to consider outlawing dog meat has faced challenges, particularly regarding disputes over compensation for farmers.

Dog farmers and restaurant owners fought previous government attempts to completely abolish the dog meat industry out of concern for their livelihoods. The farmers counter that meat-producing dogs are not the same as pets.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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