Like most young South Koreans, Annie Ko rarely ate dog meat, but her annual visits to a restaurant serving the dish did little to trouble her conscience. And she was only vaguely aware of the international criticism that led to last week’s vote to ban the breeding, slaughter and sale of dog meat in the country.
It was when she volunteered as an interpreter for Humane Society International that her views on eating dog meat – a tradition some claim goes back centuries – changed dramatically.
Her volunteer work took her to farms that breed dogs for slaughter, their meat eventually ending up in stews and other dishes that devotees claim help fend off fatigue caused by the country’s hot and humid summers.
Then she adopted DeeJay, who had been rescued from a dog farm. “I’d had a year or two to witness what actually goes on at dog farms before I got my dog … it was an important learning experience,” said Ko, a member of the Seoul-based electric rock duo Love X Stereo.
“When you’re at a restaurant, you don’t really see the process, but that changes once you’re at a farm and see how horrible the situation is, how badly the dogs are treated and how they carry all these diseases … stuff that makes you feel that this is wrong in so many ways.”
Over the years, activists have documented the cruelty of the industry. Dogs are subjected to deplorable conditions, confined to cages amid putrid surroundings infested with diseases and faeces, and often left with untreated wounds. They are fed discarded food waste, often containing harmful ingredients. They are strangulated by hanging, beaten, or even electrocuted, sometimes over prolonged periods.
Breeders, many of whom are older and see the dog meat trade as a way out of poverty, argue that conditions have improved in recent times.
‘The political narrative changed’
Despite the horrors highlighted by campaigners, few politicians appeared willing to act. Consumption has been in decline for decades and is now largely confined to older South Koreans who want a fix of culinary nostalgia. But the industry is no financial minnow. There are about 1,150 farms, while 1,600 restaurants sell dog meat dishes, according to the agriculture ministry. Activists say as many as 1 million dogs a year are slaughtered.
In 2022, activists found an unlikely ally in the incoming president Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee.
Voters knew that Yoon, a conservative, would take a tougher stance on North Korea’s nuclear programme and attempt to roll back the progressive domestic policies of his liberal predecessor, Moon Jae-in. But no one identified him as an ally in the campaign that culminated in the national assembly’s recent decision to make the dog meat trade illegal from 2027.
Yoon and Kim, who own several dogs, had made no secret of their opposition to dog meat consumption. According to government data, there are more than 6 million pet dogs in South Korea, and demand for dog meat is at an all-time low. A recent Korea Research International opinion poll commissioned by the animal rights group Aware found 93% of people had no intention of eating dog meat, while 82% supported a ban, up from 73% in 2022.
In the national assembly, 208 voted for the ban, with just two abstentions. “The political narrative changed very quickly,” Ko said. “And I think that has a lot to do with the current government.”
The agriculture minister, Song Mi-ryung, said criminalising the trade reflected South Korea’s transformation into a society that prioritises animal welfare. “Now is the time for the government to take action to swiftly resolve the issue of dog meat consumption,” she said.
Many have credited Moon, who was president from 2017-22, with boosting the campaign against the trade. In 2017, he adopted Tori, a rescue dog, and four years later suggested the time had come to ban the consumption of dog meat.
‘People want animals as companions’
The law includes a three-year grace period before the ban comes into effect, and financial help for breeders, but many in the industry condemned it as an attack on their way of life.
Joo Young-bong, the head of a nationwide association of dog meat farmers, said producers were in a “state of despair”.
“Prohibiting what people eat has no precedent in history,” Joo said in a radio interview. “People have recovered their health and improved their wellbeing after eating dog meat. We are aware that consumption has been falling, but it is absurd to ban people from eating what they like. It feels like we’ve become a ‘dog republic’. There are more people walking around with dogs than there are holding babies.”
Kim Dong-hyun, a Seoul-based film-maker and owner of a Maltese dog, had doubts about condemning the entire industry. “I don’t think old practices will die out that easily,” he said. “The focus should be on fostering better conditions and removing the cruelty element for these animals rather than outright opposition. At the same time, I wonder if this is realistic when some say that beating a dog to death makes it taste better.”
Others said the law would end widespread suffering. “Like many of my friends, I was tricked into eating dog meat as a child,” said Kim Seo-hyun, a student in Gyeonggi province. “Older generations say it’s good for our health, but knowing the cruel way dogs are treated makes me sick, and I am happy it is finally being banned.”
Ko acknowledged that dog meat was a source of protein after the war, when millions of Koreans battled poverty and malnutrition. “Dogs were everywhere then, so I think they were an obvious choice,” she said. “But these days, people want animals as companions.”