Korea Urgent: Korean government is going ahead with their plan of legitimizing the dog meat trade through the introduction of a policy on the hygienic control of the dog meat trade

[Guest guest]

Wednesday, March 09, 2005 10:47 PM

Korea Urgent: Korean government is going ahead with their plan

of legitimizing the dog meat trade through the introduction of a policy

on the hygienic control of the dog meat trade

 

 

" iakakaps " <iaka

Wed, 9 Mar 2005 15:17:48 -0800

 

Re: Urgent: Korean dogs and cats need your help.

 

Dear Friends of Korean Animals,

 

We have received very disturbing and sad news

from Korea. The Korean government is going ahead

with their plan of legitimizing the dog meat

trade through the introduction of a policy on

the hygienic control of the dog meat trade. As

you can see from the article below, the Ministry

of Office for Government Policy Coordination has

decided to implement a set of laws requiring

hygienic management of the dog meat trade. This

move will greatly encourage dog-eating practice

and is effectively legalizing dog meat trade.

 

We have been working so hard against the

dangerous definition of pet animals that could

provide legal grounds for making distinction

between pet dogs and food dogs. The Korean

government consistently denied their intention

of legalizing dog meat. We found it so strange

that they would not accept our proposed

definition of companion animals if they had no

intention of legalizing dog meat. When the

Ministry of Agriculture finally informed us they

have dropped the definition, we thought that

they finally showed some sense and had given up

using the Animal Protection Law to help with

legitimizing dog meat trade, the very cause of

rampant animal abuse in Korea. When we found out

that the Ministry of Agriculture wanted to

reintroduce the definition of pet animals in the

Amendment and that the Ministry of Office for

Government Policy Coordination had held a

meeting to discuss the hygienic control of dog

meat, we realized that something was seriously

wrong, but hoped that the Korean government

would not so bluntly put the dog eaters' demands

before national interests, even though we had

little faith in their concern for animals.

 

We find it extremely disturbing that the Korean

government is trying to associate their attempt

to legitimize the dog meat trade, with

protecting animals, by presenting their policy

as a combination of protecting dogs and

protecting public health and the environment.

You cannot protect dogs while developing a

policy to hygienically control dog meat. The

latter is based on the assumption that dog meat

is acceptable, thereby making worse the very

cause of the senseless killing and torture of

dogs for health myths. The Korean government has

long argued that to reduce cruelty to dogs in

the process of slaughter, they have to legalize

dog meat. A lame excuse because, if they

genuinely wanted to reduce the amount of cruelty

to dogs, all they had to do was to strengthen

and enforce the existing Animal Protection Law.

Instead, in the name of hygienic control, the

government is on the verge of being guilty of

making the current situation worse than ever.

They have decided to continue to be guilty of

letting millions of animals die in misery due to

their failure to close down the illegal trade.

If the proposed changes are implemented, they

will be guilty of further increasing the number

of animals cruelly killed for fraudulent health

myth. While claiming that they are not

legalizing dog meat, this is clearly a way of

doing so through the back door.

 

That the government is going ahead with such an

unpopular policy which, in their own words, is

without a consensus from the majority of the

Korean public, shows that they were either

greatly encouraged by or given strong

instruction from the Korean President, who has,

in the past, openly talked about legalizing dog

meat. The Ministry of Agriculture had assured

Sunnan that the legalization of dog meat cannot

happen, at least for a while, because there is

no consensus for legalizing dog meat among the

general public in Korea and no government

department wants to take on such an unpopular

and troublesome task. We ask all our supporters

to do all they can to oppose the Korean

government's attempt to legalize dog meat.

 

Please write to the Korean Government telling them they should:

 

.. Stop all their attempts to legalise the dog meat trade

.. Include all dogs and cats in the definition of " Companion Animals "

.. Enforce existing and future animal protection laws

.. Protect all dogs & cats in both the markets & countryside

.. Introduce clear penalties for slaughtering &

selling of dogs & cats for food or medicine

.. Educate the public about the myths of dog & cat meat products

 

Write to your Member of Parliament or Congress and to the Korean

Embassies

 

.. Write to your Member of Parliament or Congress and to the Korean

Embassies.

 

- Ask them to contact the Korean Government and

pressure them to protect all dogs and cats as

" pet animals " .

 

President Roh Moo-Hyun

Blue House

1 Sejong-Ro, Jongno-gu

Seoul

South Korea, 110-050

webmaster

webmaster

 

International Aid for Korean Animals

Korea Animal Protection Society

P.O. Box 20600, Oakland, 94620-0600, USA

<http://www.koreananimals.org>

http://www.koreananimals.org>www.koreananimals.org

iakaiaka

(Tel/Fax.) 510-271-6795