South Korea will ban the breeding and slaughter of dogs for meat consumption

The South Korean Parliament approved this Tuesday by an absolute majority a bill that prohibits the breeding and slaughter of dogs for consumption. The decision to end this controversial centuries-old practice – which is still in force in almost twenty nations – has been made with the support of the opposition and after years of intense debate in the Asian country, where awareness of the well-being of the animals and the number of owners of these pets. The consumption of this meat had become unusual and limited mainly to elderly people and residents of rural areas.

The bill, which aims to “eradicate dog consumption,” was proposed by the ruling People's Power Party and received unusual support within South Korea's divided Democratic Party political landscape. In total, it obtained an overwhelming majority of 208 votes in favor and two abstentions, a result that highlights how attitudes towards eating this meat have changed in recent decades. The draft will become law once President Yoon Suk-yeol and his cabinet give final approval.

The rule, which will come into force in 2027, will punish with up to three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won (more than 21,000 euros) the breeding and slaughter of dogs to produce meat for human consumption, as well as its distribution and sale, according to the newspaper Korea Herald. At the moment, it does not stipulate any penalty for eating it, so the regulations will be mainly aimed at making the industry illegal.

According to the National Assembly, owners of farms, restaurants and other workers in the sector will have a three-year grace period to close or change their business. The new law will offer compensation to help owners make a “stable” transition to another type of service and, in this way, avoid protests like those that generated previous attempts at a ban. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, in South Korea there are around 1,500 farms, 34 slaughterhouses, 219 distribution companies and approximately 1,600 restaurants that sell products made with dog meat.

Although the bill has broad support among the South Korean population, the Korean Edible Dog Association, a coalition of breeders and sellers, has announced that it plans to take the matter to the Constitutional Court to challenge the legitimacy of the law. , although no further details have been provided in this regard. In November, dozens of workers in the sector gathered in front of the presidential office to show their rejection of the proposal. That demonstration ended with clashes with the police and some arrests, Reuters reported at the time.

Ending the consumption of dog meat was one of the electoral promises of President Yoon, in power from 2022, and support for the elimination of this practice has grown during his presidency. Both the South Korean leader and his wife, Kim Keon-hee, are animal lovers and live with four dogs and three cats. During her husband's term, the first lady has actively supported the measure and, according to some activists, she has been a key figure in raising awareness about this cause. “It was the right time to adapt to the times,” they consider in the Korean office of the animal protection agency Humane Society International (HSI), and point out that the approval is due in part to greater political will that “grew with the interest of the first lady.”

“We are making history,” Chae Jung-ah, executive director for Korea at HSI, told the Yonhap news agency. “We have reached the turning point where the majority of Korean citizens reject eating dogs and want this suffering to go down in the history books,” Chae told the South Korean media. For his part, Lee Sang-kyung, director of HSI's dog meat ban campaign, says: “As the economy has developed and people's perception of animals and dog meat consumption “Food has evolved, our options have also changed,” according to the Yonhap agency.

In a survey of 2,000 South Koreans aged 20 to 69, published on Monday by the Seoul-based think tank Animal Welfare Awareness, Research and Education, more than 94% of participants said they had not eaten dog meat. in the last year and close to 93% said they would not do it in the future. In comparison, in 2020, only half of the population surveyed supported a regulation like the one approved on Tuesday, and in 2017 the figure was below 40%.

The consumption of dog meat has been popular for centuries in many regions of Asia, as medicinal properties are attributed to it. As in some areas of Vietnam, Thailand, the Philippines or China, in South Korea it was considered a food that helped combat the heat in the humid summer months and was a cheap and easily available source of protein at a time when which poverty rates were much higher.

In the particular case of South Korea, meat consumption normally increases during the Bok Nalwhich includes the three hottest days of the year, determined by the lunar calendar, during which it is tradition to eat a soup made from this meat, known as bositang. However, in recent decades, the number of South Koreans who eat dog meat has decreased dramatically, and they tend to be elderly, while young people and city residents tend not to eat it, according to HSI, which notes that this same trend is seen in other countries on the Asian continent. Between 2005 and 2014, the number of restaurants serving dog meat in Seoul fell by 40% due to declining demand, according to official statistics.

Although there is no data on the global consumption of this meat, animal groups estimate that tens of millions of dogs are sacrificed annually for its production in Asia, Africa and America. There is also a place in Europe where this practice continues, although not in a general way: Switzerland. Residents in some agricultural areas of the country eat jerky and sausages made from dog meat and, despite coming under public scrutiny in 2015, there remains no ban.

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