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Translation of news :http://media.daum.net/politics/administration/newsview?newsid=20120822102611827

Vendors are up in arms as Seongnam-city in Gyeonggido-province launches broad-scale maintenance of dog meat vendors at Moran Market.

Since July 5, Seongnam-city has been investigating dog slaughter and sales conditions at the Moran Market area (Joongwon-gu, Seongnam-dong) and has held several council meetings with directors and the deputy mayor presiding.
Seven city departments, including the Local Economy(Animal Resources), River Maintenance, Water Quality Restoration, Joongwon-gu Borough Office Economy &Transportation, Environmental Sanitation, and Construction and Building Department, held a joint briefing session on July 21 at the mayor’s office.

In contrast to their past responses to the demands of animal protection groups with the “Legal Blind Spot” excuses, this time, the issue is being taken far more seriously.

In 2002, before the Korean/Japan World Cup, the city conducted a crackdown, but it was, at most, a half-hearted gesture.

This maintenance moved forward based on the city’s decision that “while there are no legal provisions to ban the dog slaughter and sale, we can no longer sit idle and watch the city’s image being tarnished.”

Moran Market, well known as ‘dog meat market,’ and its surrounding area are home to 21 health food-related businesses, including dog meat and elixir(on-the-spot sales/processing).

During the peak summer season, each vendor slaughters and sells around 10 dogs for meat and 2-3 dogs for ‘dog elixir’ (a popular local concoction made by boiling dog meat with herbs, which is believed to be good for your health) daily. In addition to dogs, they sell goats, ducks, and chickens.

Through this investigation, the city conducted a detailed inspection of the conditions of dog storage and dog meat display/sales.

The investigation found that dog cages and display shelves were occupying the road and sidewalks without permission, and vendors were displaying dog meat outside on market days, causing people to feel disgusted.

There were also suspicions that some vendors were disposing of by-products of slaughter in garbage bags or letting part of it flow down the drain.

Noises generated from the blowtorch during the slaughter process measured more than 60dB in the adjacent residential areas of these businesses.

However, due to the legal gap related to dog meat, it is difficult for the city to impose any real controls.
Although dogs are classified as livestock under the Livestock Industry Act and the Livestock Prevention of Contagious Diseases Act, they are excluded from the livestock classification by the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act.

This is because dogs were excluded from the livestock classification during the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, conscious of global public opinion, but the related law has not been properly revised.

Even though the city has examined various legal provisions such as Animal Protection Act Section 8 (Prohibition of Mistreatment of Animals), Water Quality and Ecosystems Conservation Act Section 33 (Wastewater Discharge Standard), Sewerage Act Section 2(Sewage Treatment Area), Waste Control Act Section 8 (Prohibition of Waste Dumping ), Noise and Vibration Control Act Section 21 (Standard Noise Control) Offensive Odor Prevention Act Section 8 (Offensive Odor Emission Facility) but could not find grounds to impose a crackdown.

Accordingly, the city has decided to tackle the ‘disgust feeling’ issue first and demanded that vendors voluntarily remove the dog cages from the street and the sidewalks.

Moran Livestock Merchant Association responded, “The removal of dog cages will directly affect our livelihood. If this crackdown is enforced, we will respond aggressively.”

They explained, “Intestines are boiled and disposed of as food waste, several places have reduced noises by installing panels, odors are eliminated by administering EM (Effective Microorganism) culture fluid, and slaughtering is being done behind the screen using the electrocution so there is no animal cruelty.”

Gang-Choon Lee, the president of the Moran Livestock Merchant Association, stated, “Dog cages are located in spaces not used by people, and singling us out while other businesses are doing the same is not fair to us.”

President Lee argued, “With the 40-year history of Moran Market if the dog meat were to be missing, it would be like the tradition disappearing. If the city insists on a crackdown, they should offer us fair compensation to induce closure of our businesses. It is not right to treat us as if we are criminals using the excuse of a crackdown.”

Related article in Korean: S. Korea – Moran Market in Seongnam-Maintenance of Dog Meat Shops 성남 모란시장 업소정비vs생존권 자존심 건 ‘개 싸움’