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>www.koreananimals.org

iakaiaka

(Tel/Fax.) 510-271-6795