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[Update: October 4, 2020]KARA is filing complaints against anyone who hosted the illegal Mungyeong animal market, as well as everyone who participated in the transaction involving serious animal abuse.

For decades, illegal transactions of animals, including dogs and goats, have been held regularly at a vacant lot along the Mungyeong National Road. The market was held very early in the morning to avoid being seen by too many people. A ‘No More Illegal Market’ banner from the Mungyeong local government was hanging but the market was never shut down.
KARA went to Mungyeong for several days to conduct a field investigation. Like the market that opens every five days in Korea, this market was held 12 to 13 times a month. Trucks full of animals, and empty trucks there to buy those animals, began to gather at about 5 a.m.

The trading started when 20 – 30 trucks filled the vacant lot. Those who got out of their vehicles gathered and exchanged cash bundles, then grabbed the dogs by their necks and crumpled them into wire mesh cages already filled with other dogs. On one side of the lot, traders used tools to transfer the cage with black goats from one vehicle to another. The early morning air was filled with the groans of animals in pain.

This illegal market appears to have been opened decades ago. A local informant filed a complaint with the local government of Mungyeong City, but the reply recently received stated, “Since it involves the matter of earning a living for some people, we’ll shut down the market in Mungyeong area after this December.”

City of Mungyeong did nothing for decades and acted only after the complaint had been filed. Even after confirming the illegal transaction, they provided it a groundless grace period and continued to tolerate the illegal animal abuse.
The animal trade market allowed by law can only be opened when qualified individuals register with local governments as specific facilities such as disinfection or quarantine facilities. Not only is the opening of the market illegal, it is also illegal to participate in trading activities.

The market in Mungyeong is illegal. It is not registered with local governments nor do they have proper facilities. The trade is made secretly, leading to other illegal acts, since no one is tracking how the animals are treated or where they’re being taken. As the media report revealed in a merchant interview, dogs at the scene were being traded for meat purposes, with traders admitting that the dogs’ final destination was an illegal slaughterhouse.

There is a high possibility that lost or abandoned dogs are also being traded illegally. In fact, KARA tracked down a truck containing abandoned dogs, and encountered another illegal scene where dogs, cats, rabbits, and other pets and chickens were being illegally sold outdoors.

Meanwhile, after Mungyeong’s illegal market ended, all kinds of filth were being crushed beneath the wheels of the trucks and left behind in the vacant lot. Another big problem is that the unauthorized trade of unknown animals can become a pest control issue, which can break down the national quarantine system.

KARA is filing complaints against anyone who hosted the illegal Mungyeong animal market, as well as everyone who participated in the transaction involving serious animal abuse. We hope this will speed up the end of the dog meat industry in the Republic of Korea.

Please help bring awareness of our fight against the illegal animal trade industry so we can arrest and severely punish the animal abusers.

Video: Illegal dog meat market in Mungyeong. [바로간다] 단속 현수막 아래 버젓이 ‘불법 개시장’ (2020.09.29/뉴스데스크/MBC)

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This video was reported through MBC, and you will see the actual scenes from the dog meat market in Mungyeong, South Korea, at about one minute into the video.

While undercover, KARA collected information and monitored the illegal dog meat market, a site rampant with animal abuse, and co-reported with MBC.

Despite the lack of legal grounds for the trade and slaughter of dogs, illegal dog sales were secretly being held in Mungyeong in the early morning hours.

There is a heart-wrenching scene where 20 to 30 trucks carried and traded animals, including dogs. The trucks were packed with dogs, crushed together in wire mesh enclosures. The merchant roughly lifted the dogs by their necks. The dog market, which is said to have been on-going for decades, has not yet been shut down due to the neglect of the city of Mungyeong.

The dogs traded at the market appear to be destined to go to the final consumers, including dog slaughterhouses and Boshintang (“dog meat” soup) restaurants. KARA will file charges against everyone who had hosted the illegal market and those who participated in the clandestine and illegal trade of dogs. We will update more on the dog meat market of Mungyeong soon.

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