dog meat ban: South Korea parliament passes bill banning dog meat trade

South Korea’s parliament on Tuesday handed a invoice banning breeding, slaughtering and promoting canines for his or her meat, a conventional observe that activists have lengthy referred to as a humiliation for the nation.

The Nationwide Meeting handed the invoice by a 208-0 vote. It is going to come into impact after a three-year grace interval and after it receives last approval from President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Breeding, promoting and slaughtering canines for his or her meat might be punishable by as much as three years in jail or 30 million gained ($23,000) in fines.

Canine meat has lengthy been part of South Korean delicacies, and at one level as much as 1,000,000 canines have been believed to be killed for the commerce yearly, however consumption has sharply declined not too long ago, as Koreans embrace pet possession in droves.

Consuming canine meat is one thing of a taboo amongst youthful, city South Koreans, and strain from animal rights activists has additionally been mounting on the federal government to outlaw the observe.

Official help for a ban has grown below Yoon, a self-professed animal lover who has adopted a number of stray canines and cats with First Girl Kim Keon Hee — who’s herself a vocal critic of canine meat consumption.Activists welcomed the invoice, calling it “historical past within the making”.”We reached a tipping level the place most Korean residents reject consuming canines and wish to see this struggling consigned to the historical past books, and right now our policymakers have acted decisively to make {that a} actuality,” JungAh Chae, government director of Humane Society Worldwide/Korea, mentioned in an announcement.

“Whereas my coronary heart breaks for all of the thousands and thousands of canines for whom this modification has come too late, I’m overjoyed that South Korea can now shut this depressing chapter in our historical past and embrace a canine pleasant future,” she added.

In a brand new survey launched on Monday by Seoul-based assume tank Animal Welfare Consciousness, Analysis and Schooling, 9 out of 10 folks in South Korea mentioned they’d not eat canine meat sooner or later.

Earlier efforts to ban canine meat have run into fierce opposition from farmers who breed canines for consumption. The brand new regulation will present for compensation so that companies can transfer out of the commerce.

Round 1,100 canine farms breed a whole lot of 1000’s of canines annually that are served in eating places throughout the nation, in accordance with authorities figures.

Canine meat is often eaten in South Korea as a summertime delicacy, with the greasy crimson meat — invariably boiled for tenderness — believed to extend power to assist deal with the warmth.

The nation’s present animal safety regulation is meant primarily to forestall the merciless slaughter of canines and cats, however doesn’t ban consumption itself.

Nonetheless, authorities have invoked the regulation and different hygiene rules to crack down on canine farms and eating places forward of worldwide occasions such because the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics.