What’s Going on in Korea?

We’d like to give our supporters a quick update on what has been happening recently. So far there have been two developments in the fight against Korean animal cruelty.

First of all – some good news! Two dog-meat farms in Korea have been shut down after the government received multiple complaints from concerned Korean animal activists. The farms were repeatedly fined for health and safety violations and ultimately had to close down their horrendous operations.

This brings us to our second point. For our long-time supporters there has been a noticeable shift in IAKA’s focus and tactics. We’ve touched on it a bit before but will take this opportunity to elaborate further.  There has been over 30 years of protests by international organizations (including IAKA) and it has become increasingly clear that Westerners lobbying, protesting, demonstrating and signing petitions against the Korean dog and cat meat markets have had an unsuccessful impact. In fact it has generated a lot of resentment not only in the Korean government but with many Korean people as well. These attempts to change the meat market practices are seen by some as outsiders trying to force their ways upon Korean society.

What we have noticed is a change in attitude with some sectors of Korean society, especially the younger generations. An August 28th article in USA Today claims that the consumption of dog meat is slowly fading out in South Korea which indicates that dog farms may be on the decline!

(Article link: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/08/28/dog-meat-popularity/14724623/ ).

While this is certainly not the end of the struggle, it is a bit of hope; the real beginning to the long process of truly stopping the needless slaughter of our loyal companion animals.

This of course presents us animal lovers with an extremely difficult ethical dilemma: what happens to the dogs when the farms are shut down? Ideally each and every dog would be saved and rehabilitated but, unfortunately, this will most likely not be the case. The farms forced to close will probably sell their last dogs to a meat market in order to make as much money as they possibly can in the end. If the dogs are somehow rescued, many of them will ultimately have to be put down because of a lifetime of untreated diseases and possible terminal illnesses. It is a heartbreaking realization for all of us who have fought so hard to put an end to their suffering and a testament to the legacy of horror that the dog markets will leave behind long after they have gone.

What this means for IAKA, other animal activist organizations and anyone who wants to create better lives for the brutalized companion animals of Korea is that we have to focus our energy on inspiring the Korean people to action. They are the ones who have the ability to effectively campaign against dog farmers and meat vendors, to complain to the government and to shut down the dog meat industry. The power is in their hands and we need to approach solutions to this needless slaughter with that fact in mind.

IAKA has already begun to approach the dog-meat problem from this perspective with our pro-animal and environment English language curriculum which currently in development. Additionally, IAKA is planning to launch a campaign with other Korean organizations to offer monetary rewards to people who successfully close down dog farms, dog market butcher shops, dog-meat restaurants and “health juice” bars. While this will not save every dog currently huddling for warmth in a cage, it is one way we are trying to put a stop to the sickening cycle of cruelty.

IAKA is also planning to enlist the help of other Korean organizations in order to renew our search for someone in Korea who can help to create an Ambassador Dog. Our plan is to find someone with land, time, patience and a loving dispensation toward all creatures and assist them in rescuing a ddong-gae (literally meaning ‘shit dog’) puppy from a dog farm. They will then raise and train the dog, providing it with a healthy, nurturing environment and this dog will serve as living proof to all people that these so-called ddong-gae are no different from any other breed of dog and just as deserving of compassion, protection and loving homes.

As always, thank you for your continuing support and we will continue to update you with more news, resources and strategies for combating this atrocious slaughter.