South Korean president wants his country to outlaw eating dog meat

Dog lover and South Korean President Moon Jae-in has called on his country to turn on their dog-meat-eating tradition.

Approximately 1 million dogs are slaughtered in the South Asian nation annually for the consumption of meat, though the practice has declined as South Koreans — including their leader — have come to embrace dogs as pets.

Meanwhile, animal advocates have long targeted that country and others, including China, accusing some of corralling canine companions from their family home for the purpose of selling to local dog meat markets.

“Hasn’t the time come to prudently consider prohibiting dog meat consumption?” Moon asked during a regular appointment with the country’s prime minister, Kim Boo-kyum, according to Agence France-Presse.

“After the briefing, he said time has come to carefully consider imposing a dog meat ban,” Moon’s spokeswoman, Park Kyung-mee, said in a statement after the meeting, Reuters reported.

Moon, a multiple-dog owner, rescued one just after taking office in 2017 — a symbolic act suggesting his pro-animal interests. That dog, Tory, is now one of the several living with Moon at South Korea’s presidential office and residence, the Blue House. The president is also said to be making plans to improve the country’s abandoned animal control protocol.

Reuters reported that several presidential hopefuls in South Korea’s upcoming election have called for a ban on dog meat consumption, while others insist it is up to the people to decide.

Current South Korean law sees that domesticated animals are protected from particularly cruel livestock practices, but does not ban the consumption of dogs itself. One poll by animal welfare group Aware found that the move would be a fairly popular one, as an estimated 78% of South Koreans believe there ought to be a ban on the sale of dog or cat meat.

Moon’s dispatch comes as their mainland neighbors in China look to enact similar legislation to protect dogs. In China’s Guangxi region, where a dog meat festival occurs annually, new laws to prevent animal cruelty — with fines up to 150,000 yuan (about $23,100) — have given animal rights activists hope that the centuries-old tradition is on its way out.