South Korea's parliament passes bill to ban dog meat trade

About time. Now... China!

China is a matter of time, fewer and fewer restaurants offer dogs, and it is basically a custom of the elderly and their traditions, dog consumption in China is most only three provinces and during some festival times..

It is a matter of time before that custom disappears, what is growing greatly in China are pet lovers adoptions and their market, the pet accessories and products fairs are immensely large sizes both for export and for the local market..

Excellent, well done South Korea !!!...

And guess who's gonna be furious at Yoon, the elderly conservative dog meat fans

... who will be extinct in the coming years, leaving those practices in the past. Well done, President Yoon.

So by your own statement: Each culture had the right to decide its own diet- isn't that exactly what they are doing?

Exactly!! Every culture has the right to their own diet and the rest of us have the right to comment.

Eating dogs was likely commonplace in humankind for a long, long time as they were being domesticated, tapering off only very recently, but it is probably one of our practices that will die out before too long. Just my guess.

That's a whole lot of good boys and girls who are going to have a chance at a better life, or at least avoid a miserable one.

Mr. K and Samit

Perhaps I could have phased this more articulately, but what I meant by the second part of my sentence was that at least dogs will not be suffering. Yes, that means that these future dogs will have never been born.

While I agree with you it's about time Korea got on this, before you go casting stones on the eating habits of other nations and the abhorrent way in which they slaughter the animals to get the meat, lest we forget Japan has what many see as out-dated, ill practices of its own, like Taiji's dolphin massacre, or even keeping a fish alive while you eat it as sashimi.

Smith- well said.

Each culture had the right to decide its own diet.

And that's what they are doing, no? Did I miss something? As far as I understand, this is a Korean decision. We are applauding it, but this seems to be a Korean decision entirely. They made the choice to ban this practice. So by your own statement: Each culture had the right to decide its own diet- isn't that exactly what they are doing?

@Fighto!

President Yoon is the greatest leader SK have ever had, but sadly he is being massacred by the Korean media.

And guess who's gonna be furious at Yoon, the elderly conservative dog meat fans, or the younger liberal dog loving crowds?

This was really a bad time to pass this law as it pisses off Yoon's support base 100 days before the general election, the elderly voters above 65.

@UChosePoorly

That's a whole lot of good boys and girls who are going to have a chance at a better life, or at least avoid a miserable one.

Actually it's not the case.

The "meat dog" breeds in Korea are Tosa breeds. No one's going to keep Tosa as pets, Tosa will simply go extinct in Korea.

Korean breed dogs were already protected as "endangered species" for decades, but Japanese breed dogs were open-season as they received no protection for being Japanese breeds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosa_(dog)

Tosa (dog)

The Tosa Inu (土佐犬, also called the Tosa-Ken and Japanese Mastiff) is a breed of dog of Japanese origin that is considered rare. It was originally bred in Tosa, Shikoku (present-day Kōchi), as a fighting dog and is the only breed still used (legally) in Japanese dog fighting.[1] Ownership is restricted in some countries as a dangerous breed.

In South Korea, it is one of the main dog meat breeds, along with Nureongi dogs.[2]

Plenty of reasons I wouldn’t visit barbaric nations like Korea or China and this is one of them. I’ll mannered oafs, living in the past.

Each culture had the right to decide its own diet. You may not agree but just because you have a pet dog doesn't mean dogs are special.

What is the situation in the north?

There aren’t any left after the famine.

What is the situation in the north?

Here's the thing: we shouldn't rush to judge the habits of other cultures. We were in Mexico, touring a museum outside of Puerto Vallarta. One of the things they showed in the museum was how in pre-colonial Mexico dogs were raised as an important part of their diet. Many of the food animals that are taken for granted in Asia, Europe, and Africa, were not available to the people of the Americas at that time, but they did have dogs. There were many statues in the museum of fat, corn fed dogs, as they were a valuable source of protein, and prized as a food source. I am not aware of anyone in present day Mexico who chooses to eat dog meat, but at one time the practice was apparently accepted without question.

So, Korean culture accepted the eating of dogs. I get that they are very smart, but so are many of the other animals that we eat.

Some time ago I talked with an old man, born in the 1800s, who told me that he himself had talked with an old man when he was a youth who had been a mountain trapper in the Old West in the mid 1800s. That trapper reportedly said that the best tasting meat he had ever eaten was mountain lion, or puma. Who among us would consider eating a cat? And yet they are apparently delicious. The difference between dogs, cats, cows, pigs, goats, and whales, is that modern custom is to keep dogs and cats as pets, which is to say, as almost family members. We consider eating family members, or any humans, as repugnant, but in some past cultures eating dead family members was considered the proper thing to do. (No thank you!)

I have read accounts of people eating dogs and cats during times of starvation, without hardly thinking at all about it. I was watching a documentary about the fighting in Eastern Europe during World War II, and one of the German soldiers interviewed confessed that they even ate dead soldiers. It was that or starve.

The Korean Association of Edible Dogs

Personally I find even the existence of such an organization pretty disgusting.

Kind of makes you wonder what took them so long = the ole it's our culture and nobody can tell us what to do even though we know it's wrong and outdated.

Fighto!: "Another abhorrent nation is Vietnam - where cats and dogs can be found in markets dead and alive for consumption."

While I agree with you it's about time Korea got on this, before you go casting stones on the eating habits of other nations and the abhorrent way in which they slaughter the animals to get the meat, lest we forget Japan has what many see as out-dated, ill practices of its own, like Taiji's dolphin massacre, or even keeping a fish alive while you eat it as sashimi.

The dogs farmed for meat are not your regular pooch. There is not much difference between how they are treated and battery hens. You would see them being transported around where I lived in China as dog meat was popular then amongst the Korean minority. Quite a harrowing sight to be honest

It is good to hear that the younger generation is being listened to and that stuffy old people are having to follow their lead. My concern would be it will drive a black market.

Uchoose....

That's a whole lot of good boys and girls who are going to have a chance at a better life, or at least avoid a miserable one.

No, those being bred for meat will not be born. But at least they also won't get killed and eaten.

well done S Korea.

About time. Now... China!

Don't hold your breath on that.

Another abhorrent nation is Vietnam - where cats and dogs can be found in markets dead and alive for consumption. Many are pets that are stolen. Despicable culture that needs to be corrected.

About time. Now... China!

In the story yesterday about the Asian restaurant owner saying how he was basically hounded out of business over stereotyping and dog meat - this is why. Hopefully once the pitchforks and torches brigade see this report they'll leave the restaurant owners alone.

Good on South Korea - about time too. Eating man's best friend is a despicable act. President Yoon is the greatest leader SK have ever had, but sadly he is being massacred by the Korean media.

The legislation will take effect after a three-year grace period. Breaking the law would be punishable by up to three years in prison or 30 million won ($22,800) in fines.

3 years grace? Absurd. It should take effect immediately - and the old men who typically buy, sell and eat dogs should all be behind bars. Now.

The Korean Association of Edible Dogs, a coalition of breeders and sellers, said the ban will affect 3,500 farms raising 1.5 million dogs as well as 3,000 restaurants.

That's a whole lot of good boys and girls who are going to have a chance at a better life, or at least avoid a miserable one.