Seoul Times, Dogs Adored While Being Eaten in Seoul

[Guest guest]

http://www.theseoultimes.com/ST/db/read.php?idx=113 & head=1

 

Seoul Times, 2003

 

Dogs Adored While Being Eaten in Seoul

 

By Bum-Jun Suh

Staff reporter

 

On August 13, five family members lined up in black

suits for an " unusual " funeral ceremony in the

suburban city of Gwangju on the outskirts of Seoul.

The mourners were praying not for a beloved family

member but for their pet dog.

 

Funeral songs were played and the ashes of the dog

were enshrined in the sacred place during the

hour-long ceremony. According to an on-line funeral

service company, an average of 10 funeral services for

dogs are performed each day and the cost of the

service is 150,000 won(about 850 U.S. dollars).

 

At the same time a few kilometers away in a Seoul

office, five employees were busy packing dog meat to

sell through their internet shopping mall. Company

sources reveal that meat equivalent to 10 dogs is sold

each day to over 800 customers.

 

These days dogs are treated like an adored member of

the family in Seoul where they were once raised to

feed the hungry stomach of their masters. Yet dog meat

is so popular among the Korean people even instant dog

soups line supermarket shelves.

 

Furthermore, a dog meat buffet appeared in a satellite

city of Songnam east of Seoul, touching off a flurry

of complaints from groups of animal lovers. They

demanded the ward office crack down on the buffet

restaurant.

 

In South Korea killing dogs is illegal. Cooking and

selling dog meat are also banned because it is

designated as abominable food by law. But the reality

is that an increasing number of Korean people are

enjoying dog meat or soup.

 

It is not unusual to spot young ladies and even small

kids eating dog meat along with their parents in

downtown restaurants. Traditionally dog meat and soups

are considered as stamina food for adult males.

 

In the past Korean people had to kill their dogs to

supplement their scant protein intake. Nowadays, the

younger generation of Koreans are turning to canine

meat for its taste and nutrition.

 

Korean people have long believed that dog meat is a

classic example of stamina food and the best

aphrodisiac. Dog meat and soup are particularly

popular during hot and muggy summer days, since people

believe dog meat will bolster their weakened body.

 

Several Chinese traditional medicinal books teach that

dog meat is the best stamina food to fend off summer

heat and to regain vitality. These books also write

that dog meat is the best food for patients

convalescing from their illness.

 

Dog meat was and is equally loved by people in the

northern half of the Korean Peninsula. Dog meat is

called " sweet meat " by North Korean people and is

loved by Dear Leader Kim Jong-il as well as his late

senior, Great Leader Kim Il-sung, according to

Fujimoto, a Japanese man who was their chef.

 

Fujimoto revealed that Chairman Kim never failed to

eat dog meat in the hot summer days. He said that

Junior Kim was a well-known food connoisseur who

enjoyed all kinds of rare dishes from around the

world.

 

Koreans' love of dog meat became a target of criticism

from the international community, particularly Western

countries. During 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup a lot of

Westerners complained about the " dietary habit " of

Korean people, triggering a national debate on the

pros and cons of eating dog meat.

 

During the World Cup Brigitte Bardot, French

actress-turned animal rights advocate, had a tug of

war with Korean nationalists who argued for their

right to enjoy dog meat. Her web site was virtually

shut down after it was showered with protest email

from angry Koreans. She led an economic boycott

against Korean products after calling Koreans eating

dog meat a " barbaric custom. "

 

Proponents of eating dog meat defend themselves by

saying that French people are equally cruel for the

way they treat goose to make foie gras(fat liver), one

of their delicacies. They argued that the French also

ate horses, dogs, cats, and even rats in the past.

Other Asian people including Vietnamese, Chinese, and

Japanese are also enjoying dog meat recipes.

 

Opponents counter-argue that the medicinal or

nutritional effects of dog meat have not been

scientifically proven and the national image of Korea

is being stigmatized by the dog eating habit. Animal

lovers argue that dog meat eating ranks alongside

labour unrest as the main reasons for Korea's

tarnished international image.

 

But as Korea modernizes and emerges as one of the

world's strongest economies the power enjoyed by

animal rights activists also increases.

 

Now that they are rich enough more and more people are

buying dogs not for meat but as a pet. A social change

from the traditional extended family to modern nuclear

family boosts to a recent trend in which people are

adopting dogs or other pets to avoid loneliness.

 

In a bidding house for dogs in Daejeon in South

Choongchong Province an Alaskan Malamute puppy was

auctioned off at 1,250,000 won(1,065 U.S. dollars).

One in every five people in the city owns dogs or

other pets.

 

On the national level almost 10 million South Korean

people are estimated as lovers of dogs or other pets,

according to a kennel club. Nearly one in every four

Korean people are raising dogs.

 

Dogs as pets are estimated at 3.5 million nationally.

Last year alone 500,000 pet dogs were imported into

the nation. Beauty saloons for dog and other pets and

hotels for them are growing fast in number. Medical

insurance programs are created for their dogs.

 

" In spite of current economic sluggishness, the pet

dog industry is growing by a whopping 30 to 40 percent

every year and will expand three-fold by 2005, " said

Park Ye-kyong, an official of Korean Kennel Club(KKC).

Currently the pet dog industry is estimated at 1,500

billion won(1.3 billion U.S. dollars).

 

 

Bum-Jun Suh(fbjbj), who studied at Sungkyunkwan

University, serves as staff reporter of The Seoul Times.

 

 

Copyrights 2003 The Seoul Times Company

=====

Friends of dogs

http://www.friendsofdogs.net

Dogs brighten our life with their gift of love. It is our turn to

help our dogs. Please help organisations who are fighting to get dogs

out of the food chain.

 

http://www.koreananimals.org/

http://www.animalsasia.org/

http://www.linisgobyerno.org/special_projects.htm

 

______________________

 

--