Fw: Korea - executive summary

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>Tue, 22 May 2001 05:25:04 -0700

>anmlpepl

>anmlpepl (Merritt Clifton, editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE.)

>Korea - executive summary

 

 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 

ANIMAL PEOPLE investigative mission to Korea, May 18-20, 2001 (following

extensive literature and video research)

 

Recipient animal protection organization chief executives (known to have a

particular concern involving animals in Korea, and/or occupying a relevant

strategic position):

Clarissa Baldwin, National Canine Defence League

A.J. Cady, International Fund for Animal Welfare

Andrew Dickson, World Society for the Protection of Animals

Priscilla Feral, Friends of Animals

Maneka Gandhi, People For Animals

Leo Grillo, DELTA Rescue

Steve Hindi, SHARK

Elliot Katz, In Defense of Animals

Chinny Krishna, Blue Cross of India

Kyenan Kum, International Aid for Korean Animals

Paul Littlefair, Royal SPCA

Mike Markarian, The Fund for Animals

Jill Robinson, Animals Asia Foundation

Andrew Rowan, Humane Society International

John Stevenson, North Shore Animal League America

Roger Weeks, North Shore Animal League International

 

Purpose of Executive Summary

 

1) To succinctly share strategic ideas emerging from the ANIMAL PEOPLE visit

to Korea, during which we visited the Moran live market (the largest in the

Seoul area), met with the chief executives of three Korean animal protection

organizations, and discreetly inspected the menus, window displays, signage,

and refuse areas of several hundred restaurants, primarily in Seoul but also

in Daigu.

 

2) To solicit on-the-record response to our observations, for possible use

in our reportage.

 

Key findings

 

1) The major humane battles in Korea can be won within as little as two

years, with intelligent strategic investment.

 

1a) The conventional belief that dog-eating, cat-boiling, and live markets

will disappear anyhow within 20 years is pessimistic, fatalistic,

politically naive, and amounts to little more than an excuse for doing

nothing while animals suffer.

 

2a) There is a window of opportunity wide open now which will close if it is

not exploited.

 

2) If the humane cause is not firmly and irrevocably established in South

Korea within five to ten years, progress will be eroded, as the inevitable

reunification of North and South Korea will bring an insurgence of Marxist

utilitarian attitudes toward animals, marching south with northern

immigrants, UNLESS humane values have already become so well accepted in

South Korea that adopting them becomes a part of achieving upward

socio-economic mobility. In that case, the North Koreans will acquire humane

values as rapidly as they acquire other languages, driving permits, and

computer literacy.

 

3) The necessary campaign resources are largely available in South Korea

right now, IF the essential investment is made to develop them.

 

3a) Unlike other Asian nations, South Korea already has a well-established

tradition of charitable giving. For example, 38% of South Koreans are

members of evangelical Protestant religions, which are traditionally

supported by direct donation. 11% are Roman Catholics, who tend to support

animal protection more generously in the U.S., France, and Spain than

members of any other denomination.

 

3b) South Korea today is more affluent, as a whole, than the U.S. was only

25 years ago, when the animal rights movement became poised for economic and

political takeoff.

 

3c) South Korea has a growing culture of volunteerism, especially evident in

amateur athletics [booming] and religious activity.

 

4) South Koreans are NOT hostile toward animals--just uninformed and

indifferent through lack of contact. Among the 48 million South Korean

people, there are only approximately two million dogs kept as house pets (1

per 12 people; the U.S. ratio is 1 per 5.) Only 10,000 cats are kept as

house pets. As the South Korean population is heavily concentrated in urban

high-rise apartments, relatively few people have any direct contact with

animals at all. Just 6% of South Koreas now live on farms--about the same

percentage as live on farms in the U.S.--and only 28% live in rural areas,

compared with 27% of Americans.

 

4a) Most South Koreans have no more idea than most Americans where their

meat and dairy products come from. They do not really know much about where

dog meat comes from, either. They rarely if ever see a dog meat market, or a

live market of any kind, unless they venture into the less affluent parts of

town.

 

5) Dog meat is NOT prominent in Korean cuisine or culture.

 

5a) The Moran live market, the largest dog meat market in the Seoul area, is

actually located well south of Seoul, across the Pukkan River, in the

vicinity of a train yard. The live market occupies a single row of stalls

and storefronts, four blocks long--a fraction the size of the facilities

which supply the more popular meats, from more convenient locations.

 

5b) Dog meat dealers are not listed in the Seoul yellow pages.

 

5c) Dog meat is not commonly advertised at restaurants, nor is it openly

prepared. ANIMAL PEOPLE found no signage promoting dog meat at working class

restaurants serving downtown Seoul, and only a few ambiguous indications

that it might sometimes be served. It appears to be a seasonal specialty

and/or an acquired taste preferred by an influential minority, whose

commonalities have yet to be clearly defined.

 

5d) The overall visibility of dog consumption is approximately equal to the

visibility of prostitution: you can find the evidence that it goes on, but

only if you look.

 

5e) Dog-eating may be politically defended not so much because politicians

eat dog meat as because some of them own and rent out the marketplaces where

it is sold. This needs to be further researched.

 

Clearly, however, the Moran live market shows aspects of being the fiefdom

of a powerful slumlord (or lords). Rather than being a high-end rental

property, it appears to be a low-end rental property managed for maximum

return with minimal maintenance.

 

6) South Koreans are NOT cruel people, for the most part.

 

Publications, videos, and toys involving themes of cruelty and violence seem

to be less prominent there than in the U.S. and Britain. However, the lack

of humane legislation leaves the majority with no sense of empowerment to

respond. Thus when cruelty is practiced against animals, it can be practiced

without restraint.

 

7) Most of what American and British humane activists think they know about

how to win a campaign in South Korea is obsolete.

 

7a) The major animal rights campaign experience involving Korea came prior

to the emergence of strong political opposition parties in 1990 and the

evolution of genuine political democracy.

 

7b) Approximately 40% of the present South Korean population were 10 years

old or young, or not born, when the unenforced anti-dog meat law was passed

in 1991.

 

7c) Directly addressing the government of South Korea, as was done when

political power was more centralized, is inappropriate and ineffective now

that authority is spread much wider.

 

8) The evolving political culture of South Korea affords unique

opportunities to give animal protection a voice

 

8a) Special interest causes and coalitions are just beginning to form around

social issues;

 

8b) Women are just beginning to emerge as an economic and political force

independent of male influence;

 

8c) A particularly popular form of protest in South Korea is the " one-man

demonstration, " in which vigils are kept by individuals with sandwich

boards. As these demonstrations do not block traffic or pose a threat of

violence, they meet with little official hostility, and have recently been

approvingly featured in the major Korean newspapers. The SHARK " Tiger " TV

truck is a high-tech improvement upon the " one-man demonstration " concept

that could succeed enormously in South Korea as an educational tool.

 

Problems to address in Korea

 

1) Lack of effective humane legislation and law enforcement.

 

1a) This will come when the public demands it--not sooner.

 

2) Lack of public awareness of animal suffering.

 

2a) The Korean public will demand animal welfare improvements--and

loudly--just as soon as they are shown the filth of the live markets.

Koreans are a cleanly people. The live markets are the filthiest facilities

in the Seoul region, and get away with the filth precisely because they are

generally not seen by the end consumers of meat.

 

2b) Concern for animal suffering can be developed as part and parcel of

campaigns targeting filth, which of course includes leaving animals dead

from neglect to rot among the live animals offered for sale.

 

3) Inadequate humane infrastructure: some good organizations, but not enough

of them, not enough resources, not enough visibility, not enough clout.

 

Specific campaign issues in Korea

 

1) Dog-eating.

 

1a) Ineffective legislation banned dog-eating in 1991; the law has never

been enforced; a movement is now afoot to reclassify dogs as an agricultural

animal, i.e. as a food source. This would permit the same level of

inspection and enforcement as is accorded to conditions involving other

" food animals. "

 

2) Cat-boiling to make tonics.

 

2a) Cat-boiling has never been addressed as a major campaign theme. In view

of the generosity and militance of cat defenders, this is incomprehensible.

 

3) Severely substandard care of all species at live markets.

 

3a) Care of dogs and cats at live markets is at the " animal hoarder " level,

far below the norms of live markets elsewhere around the Pacific Rim. But

the care of " food animals " such as poultry and rabbits is no better.

Accordingly, it appears that Korean live markets operate as if exempt from

serious agricultural inspection and law enforcement pertaining to any

species.

 

Status of issues

 

1) Dog-eating is still relatively common, especially among older males, as

occasional restaurant fare; but dog meat is not a dietary staple, and

dog-eating is apparently not commonly practiced at home.

 

1a) Torture-killing of dogs, often featured in campaign literature, is no

longer commonly practiced in public. Electrocution appears to have replaced

beating and slow hanging as the primary mode of dispatch.

 

1b) Exactly how many older men eat dog, and how often, is unclear. Research

needs to be done to determine which factors differentiate the dog-eaters

from other Koreans.

 

2) Cat-boiling to make a tonic used by older women appears to have

increased, as the numbers of older women have increased, but the consumption

of cat tonic appears to be at a relatively low level nonetheless.

 

3) Live markets are rapidly losing in economic competition with modern

convenience stores and supermarkets.

 

Strategic recommendations

 

1) Campaigning in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere with the idea that

economic boycotts will force South Korea to adopt and enforce effective

humane laws is self-defeating and futile.

 

1a) Because the vast majority of South Koreans NEVER see any dog-torture,

and rarely see dog markets or dogs being butchered, it is very easy for the

defenders of the status quo to assert that the outsiders' campaigns are

based on lies and waged with economic motivation.

 

Anti-dogmeat crusaders have low credibility in South Korea not because so

many South Koreans eat dogs, but rather because so few South Koreans see the

cruelties involved.

 

1b) Civil disobedience at live markets is one project activity which can be

most effectively carried out by foreigners--who can claim to be enforcing

the 1991 law because the South Korean government itself does not. The South

Korean government could either deport the protesters and try to minimize the

public embarrassment, or make international martyrs of them and a bigger

issue of dog-eating and cat-boiling by putting them on trial.

 

Either way, public awareness would be raised.

 

2) Effective campaigning will show South Koreans themselves what is going

on, and will call on them to stop it through exercising their own political

clout.

 

3) Effective campaigning will use positive themes and positive

reinforcement.

 

3a) It is practically a cliché to note that South Korea, due to centuries of

invasions and exploitation by neighboring nations, has a national

inferiority complex. South Koreans have accordingly learned to resist

external criticism.

 

3b) Conversely, South Koreans are very quick to adapt to change. Few

societies in the history of the human species have ever evolved as rapidly

as South Korea has in the past 50 years. Dramatic economic, technological,

and social change has come about in Korea not because it was compelled, but

because it was encouraged, by incentive--in particular, by the incentive of

commercial advertising.

 

3c) South Korea is among the most advertising-driven societies in the

world--and has this in common with the U.S. Much of what really works here

will work there.

 

3d) Guilt about cruelty must be used in combination with the message of

redemption if one acts to prevent it.

 

Campaign ideas which might have special resonance

 

1) " A Dog Is For Life, " the motto of the National Canine Defence League,

resonates well with the traditional Korean reverence of age, and could be

used in a comparison/contrast of how pet dogs make people happy throughout

their lives with how cruel people make dogs miserable in the live markets.

 

2) " The K in Korea is for Kind " could develop the notion that progressive

Koreans are kind to animals.

 

3) " My father ate dogs. He drank a lot. He beat my mother. I honor my father

for the good that he did--but I will be a better man. "

 

4) " Purring cats make an old woman feel better. They make a young woman feel

better, too. And a young man. "

 

The Kum Sisters

 

Korea does not have a lot of heroines. This positions Sunnan and Kyenan Kum

to become heroines, if presented properly to the Korean public.

 

Sunnan could be presented as mother and grandmother to the nation's animals.

Kyenan could be presented as a Mulan-like fearless warrior, who risks death

threats and enormous social disapproval to draw attention to the

mistreatment of animals.

 

Their stories might be told especially effectively in mini-comic books for

free distribution to school children, and/or in direct mailings, as a

premium to attract donations.

 

This approach can and should be combined with taking advantage of the

dignity that accrues with age. At 57 and 54, respectively, Sunnan and Kyenan

still appear to be much younger, but have already reached the age bracket in

which they can claim the status of matriarchs.

 

In a society which honors age, this could be used to terrific advantage--the

more so because they have every likelihood of outliving their foes and going

on to become the grandes dames of the Korean humane movement for several

decades as it grows and thrives.

 

The sooner the animal protection movement elevates Sunnan and Kyenan to high

status WITHIN Korea, by telling their heroic stories in a manner befitting

heroines, the more they will be able to accomplish on behalf of animals.

 

Note the influence of charismatic figures including the late Cleveland Amory

and the still relatively young Leo Grillo on the economic growth of animal

protection in the U.S.

 

Sunnan and Kyenan will not feel comfortable with a great deal of limelight,

and that is also advantageous, because as the first animal protection

superstars in Korea, they will also demonstrate the modesty that is expected

of Korean women, and instead of being mocked for being brazen, as they

sometimes have been, they will be held forth as role models for little

girls.

 

This is a job for the campaign image-makers to undertake. Sunnan and Kyenan

themselves cannot do it. Their role is to go on doing all that they are

already doing.

 

KAPS

 

The Korea Animal Protection Society already operates exemplary shelter

facilities under difficult conditions. Certainly it could use open land for

dogs to play in, fresh paint every couple of years, and many other

amenities. However, the present main shelter could become an ideal cat

shelter and adoption facility.

 

Promoting family pet adoptions must become part of an effective Korean

animal protection strategy (perhaps on a contractual basis which requires

pets to be returned to the shelter for physical examinations once a year, to

insure that they are not sold and eaten).

 

No organization is better positioned than KAPS to become the North Shore

Animal League or National Canine Defence League of Korea.

 

What it will take: seed money. Knowhow. Encouragement.

 

If I happened to be an international animal protection organization with a

real interest in giving KAPS a hand up, I would fund

 

# Hiring the personnel to develop an in-Korea direct mail fundraising base:

a Korean trainee, to work in daily partnership through a complete annual

mailing cycle with an experienced American or European fundraiser, who would

actually live and work in Korea (although paid from abroad.)

 

# The initial investment in the direct mail campaign. After a year, it

should be generating enough revenue to run itself AND fund ever-expanding

program activity.

 

# Training an adoption manager.

 

# Shelter improvements, to make the adoption facility as attractive to the

public as any shopping mall.

 

# Adoption advertising for the first annual cycle.

 

There are many different aspects of animal protection work in Korea which

can and should be funded and assisted by some of the major international

groups--now, while the opportunity is open.

 

If all of the recipients of this executive summary pitch in and lend a hand,

Korea could become a model of how to succeed in China--which will be a much

slower and harder struggle.

 

If even some pitch in, the transformation could still happen.

 

The bottom-line message is that the humane cause is ready to fly in Korea,

directed and funded and politically empowered by Koreans, if the outsiders

with concern for the status of Korean animals can remember empowerment and

positive reinforcement as the watchwords, and can recognize and respond to

the enormous differences between the Korea of today and the Korea of only 15

to 20 years ago.

 

Appreciating your attention and prompt responses,

 

Merritt Clifton, editor ANIMAL PEOPLE P.O. Box 960 Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505 Fax: 360-579-2575.

 

E-mail: anmlpepl Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org