Although dog meat consumption is declining rapidly in South Korea, many shops still sell dog meat, with about one million dogs eaten a year.
CHRIS DYER: ‘Seoul has been declared free of dog slaughterhouses after the last three meat shops in the city agreed to stop killing canines for food. The South Korean capital’s last three dog meat shops said they would end canine slaughter on-site, following more than a year of campaigning from the city’s mayor, Park Won-soon.
In July, South Korea’s notorious Gupo dog meat market in Busan closed, following the shutting of Taepyeong, the largest dog slaughterhouse in the country in Seongnam, the previous year. Park vowed to close all dog butcheries in Seoul in February and made the announcement to an audience after a screening of an animated film about abandoned dogs called Underdog.
The meat has long been a part of South Korean cuisine, with about one million dogs eaten a year… Dog meat consumption is declining rapidly in South Korea, particularly among younger generations as attitudes towards the practice are changing…
Nara Kim, dog meat campaign manager for Humane Society International/Korea says: ‘I am so happy to see Seoul’s last remaining dog meat shops end dog slaughter. Although these shops can still sell dog meat, it is nonetheless wonderful to see South Korea take one step further away from this dying industry that most Koreans want nothing to do with’.
A survey by Gallup Korea conducted in June 2018 showed that 70 per cent of South Koreans say they will not eat dog meat in future. Despite the trend moving away from eating dogs, it remains popular in South Korea during July and August, when it is eaten as a soup called bosintang. Dog meat is officially classed as ‘detestable’ by Seoul, as is snake, but the designation has no legal ramifications’. SOURCE…
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