On this day in vegan history · January 9, 2024
South Korea's National Assembly Votes to End the Dog Meat Trade
After decades of failed attempts, lawmakers in Seoul voted 208 to 0 to shut down an industry that had been raising half a million dogs a year for the table.
The facts
- Passed
- January 9, 2024, National Assembly of South Korea
- Vote
- 208-0
- Takes effect
- 2027, after a three-year grace period
- Penalties
- Up to three years in prison for slaughtering dogs for food; up to two years for breeding or selling dog meat
On January 9, 2024, South Korea's National Assembly passed a law criminalizing the breeding, slaughtering, distribution, and sale of dogs for human consumption, with the ban taking full effect in 2027. The vote was 208 to 0. Farmers, slaughterhouse operators, and restaurant owners were given a three-year grace period to close down or move into other work, with government compensation offered to help them do it. Eating dog meat itself was left unpenalized; the law targets the supply chain, not individual diners. A 2022 government survey had counted 521,121 dogs being reared on 1,156 dog meat farms nationwide, the scale of the industry the new law was built to dismantle.
In their words
The day in the words of the people who were there. Every quote is verbatim, and every source links out so you can check it.
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This is history in the making. I never thought I would see in my lifetime a ban on the cruel dog meat industry in South Korea
JungAh Chae, Humane Society International/Korea director, January 9, 2024
Source: Humane World for Animals -
The National Assembly passed the bill by a 208-0 vote.
PBS NewsHour, January 9, 2024
Source: PBS News
Why it still matters
It made South Korea the first country to legislate its own domestic dog meat industry out of existence rather than merely restrict imports or urge a cultural shift, and it built in money and time for the people whose livelihoods depended on it to leave the trade instead of just outlawing their work overnight.
Sources
This history is still being written.
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