South Korea's parliament has passed a bill to ban the breeding, slaughter and sale of dogs for meat, a traditional practice that activists have long called "a shame for the country", AFP reported.
The National Assembly adopted the bill with 208 votes in favor and 0 against, which will enter into force after a three-year grace period.
Breeding, selling and slaughtering dogs for meat will be punishable by up to 3 years in prison or a 30 million won ($23,000) fine. It will take effect after a three-year grace period and after receiving final approval from President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Dog meat has long been a part of South Korean cuisine, and at one point it was thought that up to 1 million dogs were killed for this purpose each year, but its consumption has declined sharply in recent years as Koreans have turned to keeping pets en masse.
Eating dog meat is something of a taboo among younger urban South Koreans, and animal rights activists are putting increasing pressure on the government to ban the practice.
Official support for the ban has been growing under pressure from President Yeol, a noted animal lover who has adopted several stray dogs and cats along with First Lady Kim Kyung-hee, herself an outspoken critic of dog meat consumption.
Activists welcomed the bill, calling it "history in the making."
"We have reached a critical point where most Korean citizens reject dog-eating and want this torture to be a thing of the past, and today our politicians have taken decisive action to make this a reality," JungAh Chae, executive director of the Humane Society, said in a statement. International/Korea.
"While my heart breaks for the millions of dogs for whom this change came too late, I am happy that South Korea can now close this unfortunate chapter in our history and embrace a dog-friendly future," she added.
In a new survey released Monday by the Seoul-based think tank Animal Welfare Awareness, Research and Education, 9 out of 10 people in South Korea said they would not eat dog meat in the future.
Previous attempts to ban dog meat have met with fierce opposition from farmers who raise dogs for consumption. The new law provides for compensation for businesses to abandon this trade.
According to government figures, about 1,100 dog farms raise hundreds of thousands of dogs each year, which are served in restaurants across the country.
Dog meat is commonly eaten in South Korea as a summer delicacy, with the fatty red meat, necessarily cooked to tender, believed to boost energy to cope with the heat.
The current animal protection law in the country aims to prevent the cruel slaughter of dogs and cats, but does not prohibit consumption itself. /BGNES
