Blog

Campaign updated on 3/28/2023.

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin: Tell your Sister City, Gongju, South Korea, you oppose 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.

Gongju became a Sister City to Berkeley, California, in 2019.

In Gongju, 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.

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

Two searches on Naver (the most popular search engine in Korea) – 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” – resulted in dozens of Health Centers and dog meat restaurants in Gongju.

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

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

Call for Action

• 📧 Send emails to the Berkeley mayor and the City Council members.

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  📧 Send the CC (Carbon Copy) email to the Gongju City Council, Chungcheongnam-Do Council, and the South Korean National Assembly members.

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• 📬 Send letters.

  Mayor Jesse Arreguin
  City of Berkeley
  2180 Milvia Street 5th Floor
  Berkeley, CA 94704
  USA

  Berkeley City Council
  2180 Milvia Street 5th Floor
  Berkeley, CA 94704
  USA

  📬 Send a copy of your letter to Gongju:

  Mayor Choi Won-cheol
  City of Gongju
  1 Bongwhang-ro, Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do
  Postal Code 32552
  South Korea

  Gongju City Council
  1 Bongwhang-ro, Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do
  Postal Code 32552
  South Korea

  📬 Gongju’s addresses in Korean:

  최원철 공주시장님
  공주시청
  [32552] 충청남도 공주시 봉황로 1
  South Korea

  공주시의회
  [32552] 충청남도 공주시 봉황로 1
  South Korea

📝 Suggested message

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin: Please tell your Sister City, Gongju, South Korea, you oppose the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.

Dear Mayor Jesse Arreguin and the Berkeley City Council members:

As mayor and representatives of Berkeley, we ask you to reconsider your “friendship” with Gongju, a city that permits dogs and cats to be horribly abused and brutally killed for food.

While graphic, these undercover videos depicting South Korea’s dog meat industry are important to watch:
Part 1 of 2: https://youtu.be/_ZVQjgGb4RQ
Part 2 of 2: https://vimeo.com/754160791
Dogs who suffered their entire lives are electric tortured and killed in cages—South Korea’s horrific dog meat industry. https://koreandogs.org/jtbc-news-electric-tortured-in-cages/

Gongju is one of the largest dog meat suppliers and consumption cities in South Korea. There are numerous dog farms and dog slaughterhouses in Gongju. Korean web searches of Gongju turn up dozens of dog meat restaurants and so-called “Health Centers” that commonly serve soup made of dog meat as phony elixirs (also known as dog soju).

Dogs suffer their entire lives in filthy, feces-encrusted raised wire cages in dire misery only to be slaughtered in the most horrific of ways— tortured by electrocution, hammer strikes to their head, hanging, being beaten to death, having their throats slit, being burned alive with a blowtorch or thrown into a vat of boiling water while still alive. In many places in Gongju, dogs are killed in full view of other caged dogs who tremble with terror. In addition, beloved pets are often stolen and sold to these slaughterhouses, where they meet the same horrific fate. Puppies who die of disease are tossed away like trash, often left in front of cages to rot while their mothers watch and cry out in despair.

Mayor Christopher Chung of Palisades Park, New Jersey, has already shown his rejection of the dog meat trade in no uncertain terms. As reported in the Korea Times, he recently rejected a visit from exchange students from the friendship city, Incheon Ganghwa County, due to its dog meat trade. In California, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously passed a resolution supporting legislation or administrative action that would request the governments of South Korea, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia ban the sale of dog meat and enforce their animal protection laws.

On behalf of companion animal-loving Americans and people worldwide, we ask that you follow these bold leads by not remaining silent in the face of such abhorrent cruelty. Please urge Gongju Mayor Choi Won-cheol to shut down all Gongju dog farms, slaughterhouses, markets, dog meat restaurants, and truckers transporting dogs to their inevitable fates. An online petition calling for your support in ending such horrors perpetrated in Gongju is in progress: https://chng.it/nyPyFLmh.

Thank you for your serious consideration. We eagerly await your reply.

Sincerely,

[Your name, city, country]

• ☎️ Call the Berkeley Mayor’s office.

  TEL: (510) 981-7100, TDD: (510) 981-7190, FAX: (510) 981-7199

☎️ 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 Sister City, Gongju, 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, so 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 affiliate 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.

This illegal industry is being allowed to continue by Gongju authorities – even though there is growing opposition from pet owners across South Korea and worldwide.

So, I am asking you to please speak with your counterparts in Gongju to urge them to enforce their laws, not ignore them, show compassion to their companion animals, and respect their citizens by bringing this cruel industry to an end.

I know 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!
  .@cybergongju .@ktheum .@echungnam .@cncouncil .@CityofBerkeley .@JAforBerkeley #Berkeley Tell your Sister City #Gongju #SouthKorea you oppose torture/consumption #dogs #cats 🐾https://youtu.be/_ZVQjgGb4RQ 😢https://vimeo.com/754160791 😭https://chng.it/nyPyFLmh 👉https://koreandogs.org/Sister-city-Gongju-Berkeley/

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