Dogs are off the menu but still under threat in South Korea

Times

3 days ago

Half a million dogs in farms across South Korea face uncertain futures or, in some cases, euthanasia unless a ban on the sale of their meat for food is properly managed, campaigners have said.
In 2024, the government in Seoul, under pressure from animal rights groups, enacted a nationwide ban on the sale of dog meat, which has been a feature of the country's culinary culture for centuries.
Farmers were given a grace period until February 2027 to close their operations and sell their animals. Anyone violating the ban faces fines or prison.
Farmers have complained that the ban has taken away their livelihoods, while animal rights activists say there is no viable plan to rehome the animals — of which there are nearly half a million, according to government estimates.
In February 2025, a government survey found that 623 of the 1,537 dog farms in South Korea — 40 per cent — had shut since the new law was passed. Some farmers are still hoping traders will buy their dogs.
'We're drowning in debt, can't pay it off, and some can't even find new work,' the Rev Joo Yeong-bong, a priest and president of the Korean Association of Edible Dog, told BBC News. 'It's a hopeless situation.'
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The farm ministry is investing some 6 billion won (£3.2 million) to add capacity to animal shelters and offer up to 600,000 won per dog to farmers who close their businesses early, a BBC report said.
Adopting dogs rescued from meat farms would be an option. However, many are either pure or mixed tosa, otherwise known as the Japanese mastiff — a breed not favoured by the majority of metropolitan dog-owners in big cities like Seoul, who prefer smaller lapdogs. The government designates the breed as dangerous and requires owners to get a licence.
With animal shelters already overcrowded, many of the dog farm animals may be euthanised.
'Both adoption and euthanasia should be on the table,' Chun Myung-sun, director of the Office of Veterinary Medical Education at Seoul National University, told the BBC. '[But] if we've gone to the effort of rescuing dogs from cruel slaughter only to euthanise them, it's understandable that people would feel heartbroken and angry.'
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Bosintang, or dog meat soup, has long been considered a delicacy in Korea, and was once prized for imparting virility.
However, attitudes have changed in recent years and South Koreans are now more keen on keeping dogs as pets rather than eating them. Strollers for pets outsold baby prams last year, retailers said.
In 2022, a Gallup survey found that only 8 per cent of respondents had eaten dog meat in the previous year, down from 27 per cent in 2015, and more than 60 per cent viewed consuming dog unfavourably.