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[Update: April 28, 2018] City official of Espoo responded – Espoo not official Friendship City with Osan.

We had received a response from an official of the city of Espoo, Finland. He stated as below:
“Espoo and Osan are not official twin towns or friendship cities. We have some co-operation with Osan in the field of education. I cannot confirm the extent of this cooperation, but I assume we exchange experiences and our best methods and practices. Deals are not made by our Mayor. Our values are to be resident and customer-oriented, fair and a responsible pioneer. We are broadminded, creative and open, challenge status quo and have the courage to seek out new ways. We utilize research and international experience, organize experiments and deal with possible failures. Development in Espoo is economically, ecologically, socially and culturally sustainable. On a personal level and more widely in Finland, we are not aware of the dog and cat meat industry, so I appreciate that I and some others are more aware now.”

We are grateful for his response and for sharing that our campaign had raised awareness of the dog and cat meat industry for him and his colleagues. Our campaign was based on the information posted on Osan’s official website. Click HERE for Osan’s website page.

We thanked the Espoo city official and respectfully asked him to communicate our message to Osan counterparts to help in our fight to end the dog and cat meat cruelty in Korea. We are also thankful to all of our supporters who have taken action to contact Espoo and Osan.

Mayor Jukka Mäkelä of Espoo, Finland: Tell Friendship City, Osan, South Korea, That We’re Opposed to the Torture and Consumption of Dogs and Cats.

If you want to help fight the grisly South Korean dog and cat meat trade and make a difference in South Korea, here are a few quick actions you can take that could save millions of dogs and cats each year.

Osan became Friendship city with Espoo in 2017.
In Osan, there are countless dog farms, slaughterhouses, markets, and restaurants where the dogs, who have been tortured their entire lives, end up being slaughtered in the most inhumane ways, such as by electrocution, hanging, or beating, and then thrown into boiling water – sometimes while they are still alive. In many places, dogs are being killed in full view of other terrified, caged dogs; and this takes place in public and in broad daylight. In addition, many abandoned and stolen former pets end up in this industry and are subject to the same cruelty.

A Search Engine reveals the sickening scale of Osan’s dog meat demand.

Shown below are two search results on Naver (the most popular search engine in Korea) – the first one was for so-called “Health Centers,” which commonly sell dog elixirs and cat elixirs (also known as dog soju and cat soju), and the second one was for “dog meat restaurants.”

The searches resulted in dozens of 44 Health Food Centers in the vicinity of Osan; and 22 restaurants in the vicinity of Osan.

Even if half of these ‘Health’ Centers and restaurants serve dog and cat ‘ingredients’ in one form or another, imagine how many dog/cat slaughterhouses must be in the vicinity of Osan to supply these outlets.

There are laws in South Korea against selling dogs and cats for consumption, yet these laws are blatantly ignored.

https://koreandogs.org/meat-dogs-in-wire-cages-feed-on-rotten-food-waste-slops/

Call for Action

• Send Email: Email addresses removed.
• Send letter (Use the below-suggested message or petition):Mayor Jukka Mäkelä
  P.O.Box 11
  FI-02070 CITY OF ESPOO
  Finland

  Send a copy of your letter to Osan Mayor Sang-Wook Gwak:
  Mayor Sang-Wook Gwak
  Osan City Hall
  141, Seongho-daero, Osan, Gyeonggi-do
  Postal Code 18132
  South Korea

  Address in Korean:
  곽상욱 오산시장님
  오산시청
  18132 경기도 오산시 성호대로 141
  South Korea

• Send a message through Facebook page:
  Espoo
  Mayor Jukka Mäkelä
  Osan City Council
  Osan Agriculture and Food Sanitation Department

  Suggested email/letter/Facebook message (In Finnish)

  Hyvä kaupunginjohtaja Mäkelä sekä kaupunginvaltuusto.

  Pyydämme teitä katsomaan seuraavat videot Etelä Korean koiranliha teollisuudesta:
  https://koreandogs.org/horrible-reality-of-meat-dog-farms-you-did-not-know/
  https://koreandogs.org/dmp/
  https://koreandogs.org/companion-animals-for-consumption/.

  Onko mielestänne oikein että Espoo on ystävyyskaupunkina sellaisen kaupungin kanssa, joka sallii
  laittoman koirien ja kissojen kiduttamisen ja syömisen? Tämä kaupunki on Etelä Korean Osan.
  Pyydämme Teitä olemaan yhteydessä Osanin pormestariin Sang-Wook Gwak:iin ja pyytämään
  häntä lopettamaan näiden laittomien teurastamoiden ja koiranliha ravintoloiden toiminnan.

  Verkossa on vetoomus joka pyytää Teitä tukemaan tätä julman Etelä Korean koiran- ja kissanliha
  teollisuuden lopettamista.

  https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jukka-m%C3%A4kel%C3%A4-of-espoo-finland-tell-friendship-city-osan-korea-that-we-re-opposed-to-the-torture-eating-of-dogs-cats
  Vastaustanne pyytäen:

  [Your Name & City/Country]

  Suggested email/letter/Facebook message

  Subject: Friendship City – Osan, South Korea

  Dear Mayor Mäkelä and the City Council members,

  We ask you to please watch the videos of South Korea’s dog meat industry:
  https://koreandogs.org/horrible-reality-of-meat-dog-farms-you-did-not-know/
  https://koreandogs.org/dmp/
  https://koreandogs.org/companion-animals-for-consumption/.

  Do you think that Espoo should be a Friendship city to any city that allows dogs and cats to be tortured and eaten? Please urge Osan Mayor Sang-Wook Gwak to close down all those illegal dog farms and slaughterhouses, markets, truckers, and restaurants that serve these animal products. An online petition calling for your support in ending the horrendous South Korean dog and cat meat cruelty is in progress: https://www.change.org/p/mayor-jukka-m%C3%A4kel%C3%A4-of-espoo-finland-tell-friendship-city-osan-korea-that-we-re-opposed-to-the-torture-eating-of-dogs-cats
  The favor of your reply is requested.
  Thank you,

  [Your Name & City/Country]

• Call the Mayor’s Office: +358 9 81621

  Suggested phone message

  Hello, I’m calling to speak to someone in the Mayor’s Office to ask for their help on an important issue regarding your Friendship city, Osan in South Korea.

  If I could explain: dog-meat consumption is currently being practiced in that city, even though it is illegal under South Korean Law – but the laws are not enforced. The dog and cat meat trades involve extreme and widespread animal cruelty, and the animals suffer unimaginable pain and distress. They cannot speak for themselves which is why I am calling on their behalf. And, I believe that your city would wish to be made aware of this issue, as you would not want to be affiliated with a city where illegal and immoral torture is being carried out on any animal, and particularly not on ones that are loyal, trusting creatures, which look up to us humans as their guardians.

  These illegal trades are being allowed to continue by Korean authorities – even though there is growing opposition from pet owners across South Korea, and throughout the world.

  So, I am asking you to please speak with your counterparts in Osan to urge them to enforce their own laws, not ignore them, and to show compassion to their companion animals, and also respect to their own citizens, by bringing these trades to an end.
  I know that South Korea has many beautiful, admirable, and noble practices and customs worth preserving, but this is not one of them.
  Thank you for your time and understanding.

• Send a Twitter message!

  Suggested Twitter text

  .@osansi .@Osan_council .@osanksw‏ .@EspooEsbo .@KjMakela Plz Urge Friendship City Osan, Korea-Stop torturing/eating dogs and cats https://goo.gl/HTEHo5

No matter where you live, PLEASE SHARE these actions with your friends, especially those who live in Espoo!