Soccer official: Koreans' love for animals runs deep despite taste fordog

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Soccer official: Koreans' love for animals runs deep despite taste for dog

 

Canadian Press

 

Tuesday, December 18, 2001

 

SEOUL (AP) - A top South Korean soccer official plans to send a video to French

actress Brigitte Bardot, hoping to convince her and vocal animal activists that

South Koreans care for animals despite their dog-eating culture.

 

Bardot, a vocal critic of dog-eating, renewed her criticism ahead of next year's

World Cup finals, which South Korea will co-host with Japan. Her comments

angered many Koreans who saw them as a slight to their food culture.

 

In an interview published Tuesday in Seoul's Daily Sports newspaper, Chung

Mong-joon, co-chairman of the Korea World Cup Organizing Committee, said he

plans to send Bardot a video of Take Care of My Cat, a recent local movie that

depicts five young women taking turns to look after a stray kitten.

 

" I plan to see the film and send it to Bardot as the film touches on the subject

of loving animals, " Chung said.

 

Early this month, Bardot angered Koreans by hanging up the phone during an

interview with South Korea's MBC radio, when the Korean anchor asked her whether

she was aware that some Westerners, including French, Americans and Germans,

have fondly described the experience of eating dog meat during visits to South

Korea.

 

Bardot said she can't continue an interview with " liars. "

 

About three million of South Korea's 47 million people are believed to eat dog

meat as a delicacy. Bardot calls the custom savage.

Chung said Korea has a long tradition of loving animals, reflected in Buddhism,

which bans killing even the smallest insects, is one of the largest religions in

South Korea.

 

Chung also said that Koreans designated a breed of dogs, called " Jindo dogs, " as

a national treasure. The dogs are named after a South Korean island where many

people raise the canines.

 

South Koreans slaughter only dogs raised for eating, not pet dogs.

 

Concerned about its international image, the South Korean government banned dog

meat sales during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

After the Olympics, however, the ban stopped being enforced.

 

Dog meat is also eaten in some other Asian countries, including China, Vietnam,

the Philippines and Laos.