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Reuters reported on September 27, 2021, “South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in said on Monday there might be a need to prohibit dog meat consumption amid debate over the controversial practice and growing awareness of animal rights.

While no longer as common as before, dog meat is eaten mainly by older people and is served in some restaurants and can be bought at specific markets.

Moon made the remarks after being briefed by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on efforts to improve the handling of abandoned animals and a mandatory registration system for dogs.

“After the briefing, he said time has come to carefully consider imposing a dog meat ban,” Moon’s spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee said in a statement.” Click HERE to read the news.

This is great news and gives us hope that perhaps finally changes will come and we will see the end of the horrific dog meat industry in South Korea. This is a sign that the Korean government is starting to feel the pressure from many decades of campaigns and hard work by animal advocates both in and outside of South Korea to end the shameful and cruel dog and cat meat cruelty.

However, while we celebrate this good news, this is not the time to slow our campaign and lose momentum. Unfortunately, we have heard similarly encouraging news in the past, with few actual results. For example, while he was campaigning for the Presidential elections, Moon Jae-In made a campaign pledge to strengthen animal welfare. But as President, he has done nothing to address the dog meat issue. It now seems like he may have suggested reforming the dog meat industry as a way to appeal to a domestic and international population which has become increasingly concerned with the cruelty to dogs and cats in South Korea. Regardless of his actual intentions, considering he will only be in office until May 10, 2022, at this point it is obvious that there is very little time remaining for him to actually bring the end to the dog meat consumption.

Click HERE to read: News “Dog meat sellers say Moon is barking up the wrong tree”.

The Korea Herald (by Yonhap) News reported on September 28, 2021, “The Cabinet approved a revision to the civil law Tuesday that would grant animals legal status as individuals with lives that deserve to be protected.

The revision was proposed by the Ministry of Justice in July to add the new clause, “animals are not objects,” to Article 82 of the Civil Code.

Currently, animals are identified as “an object that takes up space” and are not separated from inanimate things, so animal abusers have been punished only for damaging property if they face a penalty at all.

The revision came after social consensus was reached on the need to improve animal protection amid a steady rise in the number of companion animals and heightened awareness of animal welfare.

It will be submitted to the National Assembly Friday for a vote on its passage. The ministry expects relevant laws to get tough on animal abuse and mistreatment once the revision comes into force.”

While we hope that this bill will pass, we recognize that there is powerful resistance to this change. This proposed revision to the civil law that grants animals legal status is a result of decades of campaigns by dedicated animal advocates in Korea and abroad including our organization. However, the dog and cat meat consumption must be specifically banned to bring the cruelty to millions of dogs and cats in South Korea to an end.

Therefore, we must continue our efforts and keep speaking out against South Korea’s cruel and unethical dog and cat meat industry. Please take action today.