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The Case for Korean dogs

There are only a few countries in the world where dogs are killed for human consumption. One of them, I am ashamed to admit, is Korea. Killing dogs for consumption is often an act of ignorance and is always betrayal of their trust. Many Korean dogs who meet a tragic end come from individual households, where they form a close bond, at least on their part, with some of the family members.

The practice may have originated from famine. Many people used to experience lack of food in spring, some forced into killing and eating their dogs. However, such practice was not widely accepted andmany Koreans regarded dog meat as disgusting.

Therefore, those who chose to eat dogs developed a number of superstitious beliefs to justify their act of betrayal. Claims were made that keeping an old dog brings disaster to the household and that a woman who is too fond of dogs cannot bear children.

In a country where women's function and virtues were defined solely in terms of good wife, obedient daughter and wise mother, such groundless superstitions must have had negative effects on the bond between humans and dogs. Still dogs often moved the hearts of many Koreans as shown in literature and folk tales. It is believed that the practice of eating dogs only gained prevalence due to the Korean war and the resulting nationwide starvation.

Unfortunately, Korea's economic success in the 80s has not ended the cruel practice. The groundless superstition that eating dogs is good for male virility was quickly marketed by the dog meat dealers. Over two million dogs a year are killed on the ground that eating dog meat invigorates male sexual vitality, an erroneous and yet widespread belief. For appetite, dog fur may be burned off with a blow torch, often while the animals are still alive. Many dogs are deliberately put to cruel slow death as a result of superstition that the more animals suffer the better the meat becomes.

The number of households which treat dogs as a member of families is increasing but unfortunately the superstitious belief that eating dogs is good for health persists. The pro-dog meat lobby, representing the interests of dog meat traders, spends a lot of money in spreading this myth. People who contradict their propaganda and state that dog meat is harmful to human health have been bombarded with hate mails and phone calls. Many Koreans became apprehensive of stating their objection to dog meat in public. This resulted in the dramatic increase of illegal dog farms (very recent phenomenon) and dog meat restaurants.