Actress and long-time animal activist Kim Basinger has called for an end to South Korea’s dog meat trade, as government officials deliberate on whether to bring in a ban, Newsweek reports.
Basinger joined South Korean animal rights activists in protesting on “dog meat day,” or Boknal.
Progress Made in Dog Meat Trade
According to Humane Society International [HIS], in 2016, around 17,000 facilities in South Korea kept around 2 million dogs. However, changes are happening. The Gupo dog meat market, one of the country’s largest, recently closed down with the help of its mayor. In an op-ed that was published in The Korea Daily, Basinger thanked Yoon Suk-yeol, president of South Korea and an animal lover (four dogs and three cats are part of his family), for speaking up against the meat trade.
“Later this summer, ALW [Animal Liberation Wave] and LCA [Last Chance for Animals] will once again be active in Seoul around Boknal, the three hottest days of the summer when some Koreans eat dog meat to ‘beat the summer heat,’” Basinger wrote. “Their point will not be to judge the Korean culture; it is quite the opposite. Instead, ALW and LCA efforts this year will highlight the rising animal rights movement in Korea that is leading to monumental change.”
Dog Meat Culture
Dog farmer Lee Young Byoung told CNN: “There’s tradition, our culture and before so many people in Korea (were) very poor, (and did) not eat protein.” LCA founder Chris DeRose countered: “In our country, we had a culture called slavery, we abolished it. It’s over, some cultures just don’t need to exist anymore,” DeRose told supporters. “South Korea is not alone anymore, this is a global movement,” he announced to rounds of applause.
Fortunately, DeRose’s comment rings true. China and Indonesia also recently changed their policies about eating dog meat. Dog meat consumption, although stereotypically linked to Asian cultures, occurs around the world. As recently as 2018, the United States House of Representatives amended the Animal Welfare Act to explicitly ban “the transportation, delivery, possession, and slaughter of dogs and cats for human consumption.” Until then, only five states prohibited sale and consumption of dog and cat meat.
The ban of dog meat consumption leads to interesting questions about the morality of consumption of other animals. Read a DogTime oped on veganism here.
