Okcheon, South Korea, Shut down illegal dog meat farms, slaughterhouses, and markets.

posted by KoreanDogs.org team on November 18,2018 in Action Alert, Campaign

Campaign updated on 6/8/2023.

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.

In Okcheon, there are numerous 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 broad daylight. In addition, many abandoned and stolen former pets end up in this industry and are subject to the same cruelty.

Video: Channel A, Short story: Exposing shocking illegal dog slaughter. [숏토리] 충격적인 불법 개 도축 현장 공개, 8/16/2018.

Video: CARE convinced a dog farm owner in Okcheon, who has operated a dog meat restaurant for over 20 years, to relinquish his dogs. However, the dogs remain in the dog farm because the Okcheon government refuses to take them to their shelter for protection. CARE visits the dog farm regularly to help care for these poor dogs while asking rescue organizations to help save these dogs. 👉 Click HERE and HERE to learn more.

A Search Engine reveals the sickening scale of Okcheon’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 Health Centers and dog meat restaurants in the vicinity of Okcheon.

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 Okcheon to supply these outlets.

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

✍ Sign the Petition

Call for Action

👉 Click HERE to file a petition with the South Korean government through e-People online. (You can use our “Suggested message” below or your own words.)
📌 Need help with the e-People petition? Click HERE for instructions.

📧 Email the Okcheon County Council, Chungcheongbuk-do Provincial Council, and the South Korean National Assembly members.

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📬 Send letters.

Mayor Hwang Gyu-cheol
Okcheon County
99 Joongang-ro, Okcheon-eup, Okcheon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do
Postal Code 29032
South Korea

Okcheon County Council
99 Joongang-ro, Okcheon-eup, Okcheon-gun, Chungcheongbuk-do
Postal Code 29032
South Korea

📬 Addresses in Korean:
황규철 옥천군수님
옥천군청
(29032) 충청북도 옥천군 옥천읍 중앙로 99
South Korea

옥천군의회
(29032) 충청북도 옥천군 옥천읍 중앙로 99
South Korea

Call the mayor and deputy mayor’s offices at the county of Okcheon:

From within Korea: ☎️ 043-730-3001, ☎️ 043-730-3010
From US and Canada: ☎️ 011-82-43-730-3001, ☎️ 011-82-43-730-3010
From UK, France, Germany and many parts of Europe: ☎️ 00-82-43-730-3001, ☎️ 00-82-43-730-3010

👉 To call Korea from other countries, please click HERE for dialing instructions.
Make sure that you call during Korea’s office hours. ⏲️ Click HERE for a time zone converting tool.

Send a message through Facebook pages.

Okcheon
Chungcheongbuk-do Government
Chungcheongbuk-do Governor
Chungcheongbuk Provincial Council

📝 Suggested message

Okcheon, South Korea, Shut down illegal dog meat farms, slaughterhouses, and markets.

Petition: Okcheon, South Korea, Shut down illegal dog meat farms, slaughterhouses, and markets.
https://chng.it/N6W6njLN

Dear Mayor Hwang Gyu-cheol and the Okcheon County Council members,

Please watch these documentaries, “The Dog Meat Professionals: South Korea” (https://youtu.be/cCdTceduKcY) and “Korea’s Dog Cruelty: Dogs Are Innocent.” (https://youtu.be/qIFAI9uyx64).

We strongly urge Okcheon County to immediately rescue and protect the dogs remaining at the dog farm/dog slaughterhouse directly managed by Yeojuok Dog Meat Restaurant. Okcheon County is responsible for rescuing and protecting the victims of abuse. We urge you to immediately relocate the poor dogs still imprisoned and suffering in raised wire cages to a pleasant environment and provide them with medical care and protection. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=932903054599006

We ask you to immediately stop illegal dog farms, slaughterhouses, markets, and restaurants serving dog meat in your county. We request that an official document be issued mandating that the following existing Korean laws be enforced by its government officials, police, and judges:

Breeding:

Unauthorized processing of food waste fed to dogs in the meat trade violates the Wastes Control Act, Article 15-2, Article 25, Section 3. Suppliers of food waste and transporters of food waste to dog meat farms are violating this regulation. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than five years or by a fine not exceeding 50 million won per Article 64 of the Waste Control Act. Imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or by a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 65 of the Waste Management Act.)

The unauthorized collection of food waste and feeding it to dogs violates the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act, Article 14, Sections 1 & 2. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 33 of the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act.)

Excrement and resulting environmental damage produced as a by-product of the illegal dog meat farm violate the Act on the Management and Use of Livestock Excreta. The excrement produced at dog meat farms causes environmental damage to the immediate and surrounding area. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than two years or a fine not exceeding 20 million won per Article 49 of the Act on the Management and Use of Livestock Excreta.)

Slaughter:

Slaughtering dogs for human consumption violates the Animal Protection Act Article 10, Section 1, Clause 1-4. Killing an animal by hanging it by the neck or by using any other cruel methods; killing an animal on the street or any other places open to the public or killing an animal with animals of the same kind present at the scene; despite the absence of unavoidable reasons such as the animal’s habits and ecological environment using the animal as food for other animals; killing an animal without any justifiable grounds such as prescribed by Ordinance of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, such as prevention of direct threats to human life or body or property damage is a clear violation of the Animal Protection Act.

The slaughter of dogs by electrocution violates the Animal Protection Act, Article 10, Section 2, Clause 1. Inflicting an injury to animals by physical or chemical means, such as tools or drugs, is subject to legal punishment. Therefore, the routine slaughter of dogs by butchers and farmers by these methods violates the Act. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 97 of the Animal Protection Act.) Further, electrocution as a method of slaughter is internationally recognized as an inherently cruel method of slaughter and banned globally. In Korea, the Supreme Court in 2020 convicted a case of slaughtering a dog using an electric iron skewer.

The slaughter of dogs from an unauthorized slaughterhouse violates the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, Article 7 Section 1. The Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act states that dogs are officially recognized and classified as “animals” that are “prohibited from being slaughtered and distributed as food for human consumption.” Therefore, those vendors operating dog slaughterhouses are operating outside of the parameters of the law. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than 10 years or a fine not exceeding 100 million won per Article 45 of the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act.)

The slaughter of dogs for consumption violates the Animal Protection Act, Article 10. The Act intends to ensure that no animal is slaughtered in a cruel or revolting manner and shall be free from unnecessary pain, fear, or stress during slaughter. Therefore, the only humane way of killing dogs would be by euthanasia (lethal injection). All currently practiced methods of slaughter by butchers, farmers, and traders exclude euthanasia as a method of slaughter. Therefore, they are all in breach of this Act. This also violates the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act Article 7 Section 1 Clause 2. According to the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, the slaughter of animals for their consumption is allowed only for the livestock animals publicly announced as livestock classification in the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, and dogs are not classified here.

Distribution & Sale:

The display and sale of dog carcasses in traditional outdoor markets violate the Food Sanitation Act, Article 4, 5. It violates laws banning the sale of harmful food due to the contamination from the unsanitary and illegal animal slaughter and display of the dog carcass. For example, dog carcasses are routinely contaminated by microorganisms that cause human diseases and food poisoning, leading to severe and life-threatening health complications. There are also strict laws that ban the sale of meat from sick animals. Because there is no quality control or proper monitoring of slaughter practices in the dog meat trade, likely, these laws are routinely violated.

Dog meat restaurants’ sale of dog meat soup made with dog carcasses from an unknown source violates the Food Sanitation Act Article 44 Section 1 Clause 1. Uninspected livestock products must not be transported, stored, displayed, sold, or used to manufacture or process food for human consumption.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety must crack down on and punish businesses that sell dog carcasses and that process, cook, and sell products that use dog carcasses as raw materials.

Please refer to the legal information regarding dog meat consumption in South Korea published by KARA (Korea Animal Rights Advocates): https://www.ekara.org/activity/against/read/7537, https://koreandogs.org/kara-publishes-legal-information-booklet-ending-dog-meat-consumption/

The United States House of Representatives has formally passed H.Res. 401, which “Calls for an end to the dog and cat meat industry and urges all nations to outlaw the dog and cat meat trade.” https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-resolution/401

International coverage of the brutal dog and cat meat trade in South Korea has stained your county’s image. The time to end this tragedy is now. The favor of your reply is requested.

* Please respond to my petition in English and Korean using the Microsoft Word Document. The Hancom word processor program is not used outside Korea, and we cannot open Hancom’s .hwp file.

📝 Suggested message in Korean (Please include this in your petition.)

옥천군은 불법 개농장, 도축장, 시장, 보신탕집을 폐쇄하라!

전자청원: 옥천군은 불법 개농장, 도축장, 시장, 보신탕집을 폐쇄하라!
https://chng.it/N6W6njLN

황규철 옥천군수님과 옥천군의회 의원님들께 청원합니다.

우선 “대한의 육견인들 (https://youtu.be/cCdTceduKcY)” 과 “한국 댕댕이 잔혹사 : 개는 죄가 없다 (https://youtu.be/qIFAI9uyx64)” 라는 다큐멘터리를 참고로 봐주시기 바랍니다.

옥천군은 여주옥 보신탕집 직영 개농장/개도살장에 남아있는 개들을 즉각 구출하여 보호해주시길 강력히 촉구합니다. 학대피해자를 구조, 보호해야할 의무는 옥천군에 있습니다. 아직도 고통스러운 뜬장에 남아 고통받고있는 불쌍한 아이들을 오늘 즉각 쾌적한 환경으로 옮겨 건강 검진, 보호해 주시길 촉구합니다. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=932903054599006

옥천군은 개고기를 다루는 불법 개농장, 도살장, 시장, 보신탕집, 건강원을 단속하는 즉각적 조치를 취하기를 촉구합니다. 또한 한국정부, 경찰청, 사법기관이 아래와 같은 기존 한국법 시행을 요구하는 공식문서를 발급할 것을 요청합니다.

사육:

– 개의 사육단계에서 식용견 사료용으로 음식쓰레기를 무단처리하는 것은 폐기물 관리법 제 15조의 2, 제 25조 3항 위반입니다. 음식물쓰레기 배출자와 운반자들은 이 의무규정을 위반하고 개농장주에게 음식쓰레기를 제공하고 있습니다. (처벌: 폐기물관리법 제 64조 의거 5년 이하의 징역 또는 5천만원 이하 벌금. 폐기물관리법 제 65조 의거 3년이하의 징역이나 3천만원 이하의 벌금.)

– 무단으로 음식쓰레기를 수집/운반하여 개에게 급여하는것은 사료관리법 제 14조 1항 및 2항의 위반입니다. (처벌: 사료관리법 제 33조 의거 3년 이하의 징역 또는 3천만원 이하 벌금.)

– 불법으로 난립된 개농장에서 배출되는 분뇨로 인한 환경위해는가축분뇨의 관리 및 이용에 관한 법률(가축분뇨법)의 위반입니다. 개농장의 배설물은 인근 지역 환경 피해를 유발합니다. (처벌: 가축분뇨법 제 49조 가축분뇨의 처리 의무를 위반한 경우 2년 이하 징역 또는 2천 만원 이하 벌금.)

도살:

– 식용하기 위한 개도살은 동물보호법 제 10조 1항 1-4호의 위반입니다. 개도살은 목을 매다는 등의 잔인한 방법으로 죽음에 이르게 하는 행위, 노상 등 공개된 장소에서 죽이거나 같은 종류의 다른 동물이 보는 앞에서 죽음에 이르게 하는 행위, 동물의 습성 및 생태환경 등 부득이한 사유가 없음에도 불구하고 해당 동물을 다른 동물의 먹이로 사용하는 행위, 그 밖에 사람의 생명ㆍ신체에 대한 직접적인 위협이나 재산상의 피해 방지 등 농림축산식품부령으로 정하는 정당한 사유 없이 동물을 죽음에 이르게 하는 행위로 명백한 법 위반 행위입니다.

– 전기감전방법으로 개를 도살하는 행위는 동물보호법 제 10조 2항 1호의 위반입니다. 도구ㆍ약물 등 물리적ㆍ화학적 방법을 사용하여 상해를 입히는 행위마저 법적 처벌의 대상인 만큼 당연히 상기 방법에 의한 도살 행위는 위법입니다. (처벌: 동물보호법 제 97조 의거 3년 이하 징역 또는 3천만원 이하 벌금)
전기도살은 국제적으로 잔인한 도살로 금지되어 있으며 국내에서도 2020년 대법원이 전기 쇠꼬챙이를 사용하여 개를 도살한 사건에 유죄판결을 내린바 있습니다.

– 무허가 도살장에서 개를 도살하는 행위는 축산물 위생관리법 제 7조 1항 위반입니다. 개는 축산물 위생관리법에서 규정한 ‘도살, 식육으로의 유통이 불가능’한 동물로서 허가받은 도살장이 존재할수가 없습니다. 따라서 개 도살장을 운영하는 공급업체는 법의 매개 변수를 벗어나 법을 위반하고 있는 것입니다. (처벌: 축산물 위생 관리법 제 45조 의거 10년 이하 징역 또는 1억원 이하 벌금.)

– 자가소비를 목적으로 개를 도살하는 행위는 동물보호법 제 10조와 축산물 위생관리법 제 7조 1항 2호의 위반입니다. 모든 동물은 잔인한 방법으로 도살되어서는 안되는데, 개도살의 경우 인도적인 방법은 약물주사 외에는 없으므로 현재 한국에서 자행되는 모든 식용 목적 개도살은 잔인한 도살에 해당합니다. 축산물 위생관리법의 ‘자가소비를 위한 도살 허용’은 고시로 정한 축산물 위생관리법상 가축에 한하며 개는 해당사항이 없습니다.

유통, 판매:

현행 식품위생법과 식약처의 해석에 의하면 ‘개고기’는 명백히 식품의 원료가 아닙니다.
– 재래시장에서 개의 지육을 전시/판매하는 행위는 식품위생법 제4, 5조의 위반입니다. 불결한 불법도축과 지육 전시과정에서의 오염으로 ‘위해식품 등의 판매금지’ 조항에 위배됩니다. 개의 지육이 병을 일으키는 미생물에 오염된 경우 인체의 건강을 해칠 우려가 있습니다. 또 유기견이나 개농장의 병든 개체가 도살돼 판매될 가능성을 배제하지 못하므로 ‘병든 동물의 고기 등의 판매금지’ 조항에 위배됩니다.

– 식품위생법 제44조에 1항 1호에 따르면 「축산물 위생관리법」 제12조에 따른 검사를 받지 아니한 축산물은 운반ㆍ보관ㆍ진열ㆍ판매하거나 식품의 제조ㆍ가공에 사용할 수 없습니다. 이를 위반시 식품위생법 제97조에 의거하여 3년 이하의 징역 또는 3천만원 이하의 벌금형에 처해집니다. ※ 축산물 위생관리법 제12조(축산물의 검사) ① 제21조제1항에 따른 도축업의 영업자는 작업장에서 처리하는 식육에 대하여 검사관의 검사를 받아야 한다.

식약처는 시중에서 판매되는 개 사체 및 지육은 물론, 이를 원료로 가공 조리 판매하는 모든 영업장을 집중 단속하고 허가 받지 않은 원료를 이용하여 판매하는 행위를 엄중히 단속하고 처벌해야 합니다.

동물권행동 카라의 개식용에 관한 법적 정보 “개식용 종식을 위한 법규 안내집이 발간되었습니다!”를 참조하십시오.
https://www.ekara.org/activity/against/read/7537

정부의 무위가 가져온 파국 ‘개식용’, 무법이 아닌 불법인 이유:
사육: https://www.ekara.org/activity/against/read/16556
도살: https://www.ekara.org/activity/against/read/19677
유통, 판매: https://ekara.org/activity/against/read/19754

미국 하원은 공식적으로 결의안 H.Res 401 “개와 고양이 식용산업을 종식시키고 모든 국가가 개와 고양이식용를 금지할 것을 촉구한다.”를 통과시켰습니다. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-resolution/401

옥천군에서 자행되는 잔인한 개/고양이 식용산업에 대한 외신 보도가 옥천군의 이미지를 크게 추락시키고 있습니다. 이 비극을 끝낼 때입니다! 옥천군의 회신을 요청드립니다.

* 청원 답변은 한글과 영어로 마이크로소프트 워드 파일로 보내주시기 바랍니다. 한콤 .hwp파일은 외국에서는 사용하지않으며 오픈할수 없습니다.

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