South Korea Set To Ban Eating Dogs by 2027 Following Proposed Bill with Bi-Partisan Support
If you’ve been hoping for a chance to try a local delicacy in South Korea, you probably only have a few years left to make that wish come true.
That’s because a proposed law in South Korea will ban “comprehensively ban the breeding, slaughter, distribution, and sale of dogs for consumption,” according to the Korea JoongAng Daily.
Even though consumption of dog meat has been on the decline, there remain thousands of businesses in the country that are at least peripherally involved in the industry, according to the outlet.
“Presently, the government estimates there are more than 1,150 farms, 34 slaughterhouses, 219 distribution companies, and approximately 1,600 restaurants engaged in the production of dog meat,” the Daily said.
Yu Eui-dong, policy chief of the ruling People Power Party, said a bill would be introduced this year to enact the ban, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
“It is time to put an end to social conflicts and controversies around dog meat consumption through the enactment of a special act to end it,” he said at a meeting with animal rights activists that including some South Korean government officials.
The bill was expected to garner bipartisan support and gain approval easily, Yu said, according to the Daily Mail.
“Bills to ban dog meat consumption have received broad support from both the ruling and opposition parties. It is anticipated that this legislation will be passed in early December this year,” the World Dog Alliance told the Daily Mail.
The proposal would include aid fro the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs for businesses and families affected by the ban, the Daily reported.
It would also “reclassify” dogs so that they no longer fall under the “livestock” regulatory category.
The ultimate ban wouldn’t take place until 2027, giving the industry some time to adjust.
The Humane Society International said the new law could save as many as a million dogs a year.
“News that the South Korean government is at last poised to ban the dog meat industry is like a dream come true for all of us who have campaigned so hard to end this cruelty” JungAh Chae, executive director of Humane Society International/Korea, said in a statement. “Korean society has reached a tipping point where most people now reject eating dogs and want to see this suffering consigned to the history books.
“With so many dogs needlessly suffering for a meat that hardly anyone eats, the government’s bill delivers a bold plan that must now urgently be passed by the Assembly so that a legislative ban can be agreed as soon as possible to help South Korea close this miserable chapter in our history and embrace a dog friendly future,” she added.
HSI/Korea cited a recent poll showing that 85 percent of South Koreans said they’d never eat dog meat and over half, 57 percent, supported a ban on it.
According to the organization, dog meat is already banned in “Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, India, Thailand and Singapore, as well as the cities of Shenzhen and Zhuhai in mainland China, Siem Reap province in Cambodia, and 32 cities and regencies as well as the province of DKI Jakarta in Indonesia,” although those bans are not always strictly enforced.
Nonetheless, the group says, about 30 million dogs are killed each year for human consumption, mostly by electrocution or strangling.
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