Dear friends of Korean animals,

As you all know, we have been recently campaigning against the Korean government's attempt to legalize dog and cat meat trade through the definition of pet animals. Although we were rather disappointed that the Korean government did not accept our proposed definition of companion animals which would have established a solid legal basis for protecting all dogs and cats as companion animals in the Animal Protection Law Amendment, we were much relieved when KAPS was told that the Ministry of Agriculture decided to drop the dangerous definition of pet animals. Unfortunately it came to our notice that the Ministry of Agriculture is under pressure to change its mind and may need to introduce a new definition of companion animals as below.

'Companion animals are animals mainly raised for companionship and emotional development, as designated by the Ministry of Agriculture.'

This means that the Ministry of Agriculture will have the power to decide what counts as companion animals. If the Ministry of Agriculture decide that companion animals are registered dogs and cats and exclude dogs and cats raised for human consumption from the object of the pet animal registration scheme they are going to introduce, this will effectively justify the distinction between pet dogs/cats and food dogs/cats in the eyes of law. We are very concerned about this development and are talking to the Ministry of Agriculture to adopt our proposed definition of companion animals if they intend to introduce a definition of companion animals in the Amendment.

That the Korean government did not give up their intention of legalizing dog and cat meat trade has been confirmed by the fact that the Ministry of office for Government Policy Coordination held a meeting to discuss hygienic control of the dog meat. Without tacit approval of dog meat, such a meeting cannot take place. We cannot but suspect that the government officials were trying to discuss a possibility of legalizing dog meat trade after making a legal distinction between pet dogs and food dogs. The participants in the meeting included the infamous Dr. Dogmeat (a well-known fanatical advocate of dog meat) and a representative from dog meat trade, a clear sign that the discussion was never intended for genuine hygiene or environmental concern but was held to please dog meat traders.

The Ministry of Agriculture 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 cannot however take comfort from their assurance if they keep trying to legitimize the distinction between food dogs/cats and pet dogs/cats through a definition of companion animals. We are waiting for a reply from the Ministry of Agriculture over our concerns. We will start another major protest campaign and inform all of you if we suspect that the Korean government will legalize or take serious steps to legalize dog meat anytime soon.

Yours sincerely,

Sunnan and Kyenan Kum

International Aid for Korean Animals
Korea Animal Protection Society
P.O. Box 20600, Oakland, 94620-0600, USA
www.koreananimals.org
iaka@koreananimals.org
(Tel.) 510-271-6795
(Fax) 510-451-0643