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Dear
Friends
The following information was supplied
by our colleagues at IAKA/KAPS on 19th January 2005.
"As you all know, we have been
recently campaigning against the Korean
government's attempt to legalize dog and cat meat
trade through the definition of pet animals.
Although we were rather disappointed that the
Korean government did not accept our proposed
definition of companion animals which would have
established a solid legal basis for protecting all
dogs and cats as companion animals in the Animal
Protection Law Amendment, we were much relieved
when KAPS was told that the Ministry of
Agriculture decided to drop the dangerous
definition of pet animals. Unfortunately it came
to our notice that the Ministry of Agriculture is
under pressure to change its mind and may need to
introduce a new definition of companion animals as
below.
" 'Companion animals are animals
mainly raised for companionship and emotional
development, as designated by the Ministry of
Agriculture.'
"This means that the Ministry of
Agriculture will have the power to decide what
counts as companion animals. If the Ministry of
Agriculture decide that companion animals are
registered dogs and cats and exclude dogs and cats
raised for human consumption from the object of
the pet animal registration scheme they are going
to introduce, this will effectively justify the
distinction between pet dogs/cats and food
dogs/cats in the eyes of law. We are very
concerned about this development and are talking
to the Ministry of Agriculture to adopt our
proposed definition of companion animals if they
intend to introduce a definition of companion
animals in the Amendment.
"That the Korean
government did not give up their intention of
legalizing dog and cat meat trade has been
confirmed by the fact that the Ministry of office
for Government Policy Coordination held a meeting
to discuss hygienic control of the dog meat.
Without tacit approval of dog meat, such a meeting
cannot take place. We cannot but suspect that the
government officials were trying to discuss a
possibility of legalizing dog meat trade after
making a legal distinction between pet dogs and
food dogs. The participants in the meeting
included the infamous Dr. Dogmeat (a well-known
fanatical advocate of dog meat) and a
representative from dog meat trade, a clear sign
that the discussion was never intended for genuine
hygiene or environmental concern but was held to
please dog meat traders.
The Ministry of
Agriculture assured Sunnan that the legalization
of dog meat cannot happen at least for a while
because there is no consensus for legalizing dog
meat among the general public in Korea and no
government department wants to take on such an
unpopular and troublesome task. We cannot however
take comfort from their assurance if they keep
trying to legitimize the distinction between food
dogs/cats and pet dogs/cats through a definition
of companion animals. We are waiting for a reply
from the Ministry of Agriculture over our
concerns. We will start another major protest
campaign and inform all of you if we suspect that
the Korean government will legalize or take
serious steps to legalize dog meat anytime
soon."
At ITD we take no comfort from the
soothing words of the Ministry of Agriculture
either, largely because we do not believe their
claim that such legalisation would not be readily
accepted by the Korean people. The 1991 Animal
Protection Law was legislation designed solely to
give Korea a facade of respectability at a time
when the world's eyes were focussed upon it. This
law has been an embarrassment to them since then,
as is proven by the fact that they have never paid
more than the most cursory lip-service to it.
Although dog and cat eaters are still in the
minority, we have certainly seen no evidence that
the Korean government has any intention of halting
the spread of this industry - quite the
opposite.
We must not forget that under
current legislation dog and cat eating is illegal,
yet the Korean govt has invited proponents of
these practices onto its working party! Their
intentions could not be made more clear!
In
the past we have asked you to write emails to the
Korean government and Assembly. Their email
addresses are however notoriously unreliable
largely due to their dislike of criticism. We
therefore ask you instead to contact the Korean
embassy in your own country, asking the Ambassador
to forward on your email. The contact details for
Korean embassies world-wide can be obtained from
Google or you may find it
easier to use our engine at http://itstheirdestiny.2kat.net/mainProposedLaw.html
Our continued thanks to all of you for
caring.
From all the team at
ITD
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