South Korean lawmakers voted Tuesday to ban the farming, slaughter and sale of dogs for meat, ending a centuries-old practice that has become increasingly rare in recent years as support for animal welfare has grown.
Only about 5% of South Koreans have eaten dog meat in the past year, according to a survey released this week by an animal-welfare think tank in Seoul, and 93% said they would not consume it in the future. While about 520,000 dogs were bred for meat in 2022, that number marks a 35% drop from five years earlier.
The full ban won’t go into effect until 2027, leaving dog-meat farmers three years to transform or shutter their businesses. At least one association of farmers has already said it plans to take its concerns with the new law to the country’s Constitutional Court.
It’s entirely performative. Dog consumption was more out of necessity in South Korea during and following the Korean War, it isn’t a delicacy there, nor did it have cultural importance. The Yoon administration is fascist, with failing economic policies and social regressions targeting women, disabled people, and minorities, so Yoon wanted a cheap optics win and banned something almost nonexistent.
There’s no moral or economic reason to ban dog meat and not pork or beef, for example, its just optics for some cheap political capital.