The South Korean president, Moon Jae-in, has raised banning the eating of dogs in the country, his office said, a traditional practice that is becoming an international embarrassment.
The meat has long been a part of South Korean cuisine with about 1 million dogs believed to be eaten annually, but consumption has declined as more people embrace the animals as companions rather than livestock.
The practice is something of a taboo among younger generations and pressure from animal rights activists has been mounting.
“Hasn’t the time come to prudently consider prohibiting dog meat consumption?” Moon asked the prime minister, Kim Boo-kyum, during a weekly meeting on Monday, according to the presidential spokesperson.
South Korea’s pet industry is on the rise, with a growing number of people living with dogs at home – the president among them. Moon is a known dog lover and has several canines at the presidential compound, including one he rescued after taking office.
Adopting Tory was one of Moon’s pledges during his presidential campaign and the pooch became the first rescue dog to make its way into the Blue House.
Moon made the remarks as he was briefed on a plan to improve the care system for abandoned pets, his spokeswoman said.
South Korea’s animal protection law is intended mainly to prevent the cruel slaughter of dogs and cats but does not ban consumption itself.
Nonetheless, authorities have invoked the law and other hygiene regulations to crack down on dog farms and restaurants ahead of international events such as the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.
GeshtiannaSG on September 27th, 2021 at 18:33 UTC »
Dogs are eaten in Switzerland too, nobody goes on about it.
charlie_wonka on September 27th, 2021 at 13:18 UTC »
South Korean here to elaborate!
Dog meat isn't that prevalent. There is little possibility that you'd encounter a restaurant that serves dog meat unless you visit a countryside. (Revised. See Edit 4) A majority of the younger generation haven't even eaten it, ore once or twice at the very most. It's an old school thing. Korea was very poor and didn't have much to eat, so dogs were certainly an option until 80s. That doesn't mean Koreans are particularly barbaric.
"How do you eat your pet?" Well, they don't. No one eats their own dog. No one eats poodles, retrievers, bulldogs. There are dogs that are raised for this purpose, like chickens and cows.
More than 6 million Korean homes have pet dogs. The market of pet food is reaching its all time high, more than 1 trillion won. (very, very roughly, a thousand won is a dollar) Korea is developing into a very pet friendly country.
I'd like to add that Western culture had its share of dog meat as well. I'm not saying that it's okay because the Western had also done it. My point is that people were hungry and meat were meat.
Here's a picture of a dog meat restaurant in Paris in the 1910s. (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Grande_Boucherie_Canine_a_Paris.jpg)
And I heard that Hitler wanted his pet to be poisoned as he was afraid that the soldiers of the Soviet Union might eat the dog, though I haven't found the exact source of this argument just yet.
So, before you judge, please remember the difference of both culture and history.
Edit 1 Editing as some used better vocabulary for the situation! No, I'm not trying to justify it by saying Westerners did it as well. I was trying to emphasize the hunger factor as a human rather than a cultural thing. And really, in my years of native Korean experience, to eat dog meat, you really have to seek it out. I guess you can come across it now and then but still. It not like McDonald's.
Edit 2 Yes, Koreans still eat dog meat even though they are not poor. It became a culture for the old school. As meat itself was scarce, dog meat was a great food for nutrition and somehow along the way, the general idea was that dog meat was a food that provides strength. The name 보신탕 itself (most dog meat are eaten this way, it's a spicy broth menu) sort of means a broth of energy. The younger generation doesn't really believe this and we've got heaps to eat already. But some of the old school people do like this idea and consume the food, and they are the ones who search this out to eat to this day.
Edit 4 Some informed me that they have seen dog meat even in big cities. I did think it was a bit of a rural thing but I realized if the area is more populated with older generations (middle age and up), it's more likely to have one, countryside or not. If I make a general assumption, the typical consumer for this particular menu is men in their 50s or 60s. So, my guess is that the dog meat market wouldn't go well on places where 20s and 30s make up more of the population but on where middle ages live, it has a possibility.
Edit 3 Yes, a lot of dogs are slaughtered brutally in the process, like pigs and cows. But it is illegal to do so in a cruel manner. I have no idea on how strong it is enforced upon though. There is a lot of problem in the meat industry and sadly, dogs are one of them. And it doesn't help that dogs are much easier to acquire and torture than a huge cow. And this is a valid argument for the people are for banning dog meat. Which makes sense. I have no intention to defend animal cruelty in this post. Dogs or no dogs, no animal should go through a cruel bloody death for the sake of food.
This topic is controversial even in Korea. Some say it's no different from other meat, some think eating dogs in particular went way too far. I do have my personal views on this but on this particular post, I'd like to remain it hidden. I understand both sides. And as a side note, no I have never eaten dog meat.
About Hitler, my point was that Hitler was worried that someone would view his pet as a source of meat. I had no clue if this is a valid story, but under the premise that it is right, I wrote it to illustrate my argument that is viewing dogs as a source of meat was a lot less of an Asian thing than one might think. And spoiler alert, smart Redditors told me it is a false story. Thank you for the correction!
The ultimate point I was trying to make is that there are lot more layers to these issues than one might think. Better hide your dogs from Koreans is a very offensive, racist attitude.
Also, I'm not an expert in this in any way and this is just an average individual's two cents. I made assumptions and generalizations out of my experience. Thus I may be flawed. Please feel free to correct.
And thank you Redditors for your awards & opinions & corrections! I read all of them and I learned a lot as well. It has made an interesting thread.
autotldr on September 27th, 2021 at 12:01 UTC »
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 62%. (I'm a bot)
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