South Korea outlaws dog meat industry

AP :
South Korea’s parliament on Tuesday endorsed landmark legislation outlawing the country’s dwindling dog meat industry, as public calls for the ban have grown sharply amid animal rights campaigns and worries about the country’s international image.

Some angry dog farmers said they plan to file a constitutional appeal and launch rallies in protest, a suggestion that heated debate over the ban would continue.

Dog meat consumption, a centuries-old practice on the Korean Peninsula, is neither explicitly banned nor legalized in South Korea.

Recent surveys show more people want its ban and a majority of South Koreans don’t eat dog meat any longer.

But the surveys also indicated one in every three South Koreans still oppose the ban even though they don’t eat dog meat.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly passed the bill by a 208-0 vote Tuesday.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government supports the ban, so the subsequent steps to make it law are considered formality.

“This law is aimed at contributing to realizing the values of animal rights, which pursue respect for life and a harmonious co-existence between humans and animals,” the legislation reads.