Dog Meat Purveyors Push Back on South Korea’s Moves To Outlaw Industry

There are growing attempts to outlaw the dog meat industry in South Korea but dog meat farmers are fighting back.

Dog meat consumption is a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula but it has been declining in popularity over the past three decades.

There's increasing public awareness of animal rights and the anti-dog meat campaign recently received a big boost when the country’s first lady, Kim Keon-hee, expressed her support for a ban.

Prospects for passage of an anti-dog meat law are unclear because of protests by farmers, restaurant owners and others involved in the dog meat industry.

Kim Jong-kil has a farm that has supported his family for 27 years.

"I absolutely oppose these moves, and we’ll mobilize all our means to resist it,” Kim, 57, said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Surveys suggest that one in three South Koreans opposes a ban, though most people don’t eat dog meat anymore.

Farmers also face growing scrutiny from officials and increasingly negative public opinion. They complain that officials visit them repeatedly in response to complaints filed by activists and citizens over alleged animal abuse and other wrongdoing.

Son Won Hak, general secretary of the dog farmers' association, said many farms have collapsed in recent years because of falling dog meat prices and weaker demand.

“Quite honestly, I'd like to quit my job (as a farmer) tomorrow. We can’t confidently tell our children that we’re raising dogs,” Son said. “When my friends called me, they said ‘Hey, are you still running a dog meat farm? Isn’t it illegal?’”

The number of farms across South Korea has dropped by half from a few years ago to about 3,000 to 4,000, and about 700,000 to 1 million dogs are slaughtered each year, a decline from several million 10 to 20 years ago, according to one dog farmers’ association.