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This is a translation of KBS news reported on May 12, 2014: Yangju: Illegal livestock market in the hills…no quarantine facilities 야산에 불법 가축시장…방역시설도 없어

Yangju: Illegal livestock market in the hills…no quarantine facilities

A group that has been operating an illegal livestock market and transacting business in the hills at the Yangju, Gyeonggi-do province has been caught.

Here, without the proper preventative facilities against diseases, livestock with an estimated value of 10 billion Korean Won ($10 million USD) have been sold and distributed to the market. Yeon-Woo Jeong reports.

Reporter
Metal cages are lined up in this vacant lot.
Dogs for human consumption are being traded. We can see small dogs that look like typical pets and even puppies.

A black goat that looks to be sick and sitting foaming at the mouth is also being traded.
Next to him, auction trading is in full swing.

Recorded auctioneer’s voice
“100K Korean Won($ 100 USD!), 105K ($105), 110K ($110), 115K ($115)…”
The dog which is auctioned off is brutally dragged.

Dog traders who have heard about this place from the word of mouth are gathered around.
They made the place invisible from the outside by putting up screens and inside they operated an illegal livestock market that traded dogs and goats.

Interview
Reporter: “When the auction market is open, it must have been noisy?”
Local resident: “Yes, the place was filled with many people here.”

OO Kang(46 years old) who was caught by the police put up a sign for a mushroom farm while he operated this illegal livestock market.

Without the proper quarantine facility, this market opened defiantly even during the outbreak of foot-and-mouth diseases and Avian Influenza.

This place evaded crackdown by operating by membership only. The amount of livestock traded during the last 5 years reaches 10 billion Korean Won ($10 million USD).

Young-Jun Ko(Seoul Gangdong Police Station)
“According to the current law, livestock markets cannot be open and managed by someone other than the National Livestock Cooperative Federation.”

The police plans to expand their investigation based on the information received that there are more illegal livestock markets.

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