(Published in Chinese on China’s national “China Food News” on January 19, 2024 accessible at https://www.cnfood.cn/article?id=1748146224714846210 ）
Sun Jiang and Peter J. Li*
On January 9, 2024, the National Assembly of South Korea passed the Special Act on the Prohibition of Raising, Slaughtering, and Trading of Dogs for the Purpose of Food with a high vote, which comprehensively prohibits the raising, breeding, or slaughtering of dogs for the purpose of food, as well as the sale of processed food products using dog meat as an ingredient. The bill stipulates that over the next three years, the government will provide necessary compensation and assistance to farmers, dog meat restaurants, and meat dog slaughterhouses in need of help in order to support the conversion of dog meat dealers, and that from 2027 onwards, it will be an offense to raise, breed, distribute, and slaughter dogs for the purpose of consumption, with penalties of up to three years’ imprisonment or a fine of KRW 30 million (roughly RMB.163,000 yuan). The Special Act signifies the start of a three-year period to end South Korea’s dog meat industry, an end to the trade that has torn South Korean society apart for decades and put the government in a dilemma.
The bill passed by the South Korean National Assembly has been widely supported by the South Korean society and even the international community. Over the past 40 years, the Korean public has repeatedly called on the South Korean government to legislate against the dog meat trade. In June 2023 alone, the National Assembly received five proposals to outlaw the industry that has plagued Korean society, provoked national antagonism, and tarnished Korea’s image. In contrast, the opposition of those involved in the dog meat trade was so strong that just two months before the bill was passed, more than 200 traders took to the streets to protest the government’s proposal to ban the trade, claiming that they were protesting for the protection of “cultural traditions” and the “nation’s unique food” and that they would not stop the trade. They condemned the government’s legislative proposal and claimed that they would release hundreds of thousands of “meat dogs” to the areas around the presidential palace in an attempt to pressure the government and parliament to drop the bill.
It is true that protecting the “Korean national food culture” has allowed the traders in South Korea to withstand increasing opposition to the trade over the past decades. As early as 1988, when South Korea hosted the Seoul Summer Olympics, people at home and abroad strongly demanded that South Korea take the opportunity to ban the sales of dog meat; in 2002, when the World Cup was held in South Korea and Japan, FIFA sent a letter to the South Korean government calling on it to take measures to prohibit the sale of dog meat; and during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics in 2018, South Korea’s dog meat industry once again became the focus of criticism from all sides, and under the pressure from all sides, the South Korean government at one point closed most of the dog meat markets in Seoul. It is the claim that dog meat consumption is allegedly part of the “Korean national food tradition” that has helped the traders and the trade to survive decades of condemnation.
But polls in South Korea show that it is not the general public and consumers who are actively defending the so-called “national diet” of dog meat, but rather the dog meat traders. A December 2023 survey of dog meat consumption found that 94.5 percent of South Koreans surveyed had not eaten dog meat in the past year, and 93.4 percent of respondents said they had no interest in eating dog meat. Those who support a ban on dog meat sales had risen from 72.8% in 2022 to 82.3% in 2023. Korean public opinion demonstrated that dog meat is never a common and daily food of the general public, nor a traditional diet of ordinary Korean households. The suggestion that dog meat is a food or food ingredient consumed and preserved by every Korean household, and that the consumption of dog meat is part of the ‘food culture of the Korean nation,’ is merely the claim of a very small number of people who have vested interests in the trade.
After all, the bill passed by the National Assembly of South Korea to ban the sale of dog meat is aimed directly at those who are engaged in breeding, slaughtering, and trading of dogs and their products, and indirectly affects only a small number of dog meat eaters in society. As the world’s 13th largest economy and one of Asia’s most developed countries, the standard of living of South Korean people is among the highest in Asia. Korean people have access to an abundance of food that far exceeds that in most countries. The consumption of dog meat in Korea is driven by the traders. It has never been a common practice among consumers because dog meat has never been a food that consumers cannot live without. It is a basic fact that the dog meat industry is essentially a service to the dog meat industry rather than a trade to satisfy the needs of the people. It is this basic fact that gives the South Korean government the courage to ban the trade.
With the passage of the Special Act in South Korea, it is time that other Asian countries still hosting dog meat sales to rationally scrutinize the gains and losses of the trade.
Take China as an example. Over the past two to three decades, there has been increasing criticism directed at the dog meat trade. This criticism is aimed, not at the eating habit of the consumers, but the businesses profiting from the sales of dog meat, a trade that has been sustained in all its components by suspected illegal and criminal activities. The province of Taiwan and Hong Kong SAR of China have taken the lead in outlawing the sales and consumption of dog and cat meat. In March 2020, Shenzhen were the first on the mainland to introduce the “Regulations on Comprehensively Prohibiting the Consumption of Wild Animals,” that produced a white list containing 10 species of edible poultry and livestock. Dogs and cats are noticeably excluded from the list. According to the Regulations, whoever is engaged in the business of selling dog meat is a violation of the city’s new policy. In May 2020, the national Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs removed dogs from the National Catalogue of Livestock and Poultry Genetic Resources, laying an important foundation for an explicit ban on the sale of dog meat in the future. In the last two decades, the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s national legislature, have received numerous proposals aimed at outlawing the sale of dog and cat meat. In 2023, a proposal by NPC deputies once again called for a legislative action to end the sale of dog meat.
Dog meat consumption has never been a mainstream dietary tradition of the Chinese nation. China understandably does not have farms specialized in the farming of dogs for slaughter. It was in the 1990s that a small number of farmers conducted experiments in “meat dog” breeding. This experiment failed. The dog meat circulating on the market is largely from questionable sources. It is even illegally obtained by traders out of the need to make profits, through theft, poisoning, and other illegal means. The conflict over dog meat has never been about the issue of “the right and freedom to eat dog meat”, but the issues of food safety, public safety, the property rights of dog owners including their emotional well-being, and the authority of national laws.
As far as food safety is concerned, since dogs are not food animals in China, the slaughtering of dogs is not under the jurisdiction of the slaughtering regulations of most Chinese provinces. Dogs and cats should never be slaughtered for food. However, there is no shortage across the country of dog slaughter operations along streets and roads, by the rivers and water sources, in marketplaces, and even next to elementary schools, where both the slaughtering conditions and sanitation standards are in the gray area beyond the reach of the state regulatory power. These slaughter operations produce dog meat that has no records of legal source, traceability, breeding and quarantine, required of common livestock products. Over the past two decades, public security and judicial departments have investigated, punished and brought to trial a large number of traders and gangs of poisonous dog meat offenders. Slaughter of dogs in public places is arguably a flagrant challenge to the moral bottom line of the Chinese public.
As far as public safety is concerned, according to national animal disease prevention and control regulations, live dogs transported across provincial boundaries must meet quarantine requirements such as the “one dog, one quarantine certificate” policy. However, no long-distance dog trucks intercepted by law enforcement agencies were found to be in compliance with the national government’s quarantine requirements. Every year, hundreds of dog trucks loaded with sick, injured, dying or dead dogs travel through mountains, rivers and provincial borders, laying a major animal disease transmission risk for the places they pass through. China was once the second most rabies-prone country in the world, and in recent years, the country has invested enormous human, financial and material resources to eliminate rabies. The transportation of large numbers of sick dogs across provinces that does not meet quarantine requirements undoubtedly poses a serious threat to the country’s realization of the great goal of rabies elimination by 2030.
As far as the property rights of dog owners are concerned, data from the “Blue Book of Pet Industry: 2023 China Pet Industry Development Report”, jointly released by the National Technical Committee for Standardization of Companion Animals (Pets) and other organizations, shows that in 2023, there was a total of 51.75 million pet dogs in mainland China. This means that tens of millions of families have dogs as companion animals. In addition, working dogs, represented by police dogs, search and rescue dogs, guide dogs, etc., have been deeply involved in all kinds of working scenes in Chinese society. It has become a consensus in Chinese society that dogs are people’s rescuers, eyes for the blind, and companions for families. A considerable volume of the dog meat circulating in the domestic market is illegally obtained by stealing and robbing. There exists a huge illegal supply chain of dog meat and sales. Stealing other people’s pet and watch dogs for slaughter is in itself a naked infringement of the property rights of the owners. The resulting emotional harms to the dog owners are irreparable.
The dog meat trade is a big and traumatic “burden” on the Chinese society. Outlawing the sale of dog meat serves the interests of the country, society or individuals. It helps foster a Chinese image of progress and civilization. It contributes to the rise of a society with moral values that are caring and attentive to the needs of the weak and the disadvantaged. Outlawing the dog meat trade helps create a society of compassion and harmony besides elevating legal protection of companion animals. In the final analysis, banning the dog meat trade helps the protection of food safety and public safety. Banning the trade calls for attention to the livelihood needs of the traders. There is no such thing as a simple one-size-fits-all solution. South Korea’s approach offers food for thoughts. It provides a transition period for the traders, commits government compensation and professional assistance for a smooth transition and an end to the trade. The ban in South Korea has been achieved as a positive step for the benefit of the country and its people.
*Sun Jiang, professor of law, Northwest University of Law and Politics, Xi’An, China
Peter J. Li, guest researcher, Animal Law Center, Northwest University of Law and Politics, Xi’An, China; associate professor of animal policy, University of Houston-Downtown, U.S.A.