South Korea unveils new plan for dog meat farmers

The government will pay breeders to shut down their operations ahead of a nationwide ban

The South Korean government has announced that it will compensate farmers affected by an upcoming ban on breeding or selling dog meat for human consumption. Farmers have rejected the offer, however, and described the ban as an “act of barbarism.”

South Korea’s parliament passed a bill in January that will outlaw the breeding and sale of dog meat by 2027, with the practice punishable by fines of up to 30 million won ($22,800) or three years in prison. The ban faced fierce resistance from dog farmers, who called the legislation “a violent act of barbarism to deprive individuals of their right to eat” and rioted outside government buildings last December ahead of the vote.

On Thursday, the country’s Agriculture Ministry announced that farmers affected by the ban will receive payments of between 225,000 won ($170), and 600,000 won ($450) per dog if they agree to shut their businesses early, the Associated Press reported.

A farmers’ association rejected this offer, however, demanding 2 million won ($1,505) per dog.

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While eating canine meat is viewed as barbaric throughout much of the world, it has been common in Korea for centuries. Even though the practice has recently fallen out of favor with younger generations, roughly a million dogs are still slaughtered every year for their meat, according to the Korean Association of Edible Dogs.

The association claims that the ban will affect 3,000 restaurants and about 3,500 farms raising approximately 1.5 million dogs. April 2022 figures from the Agriculture Ministry put those numbers at 1,600 restaurants, 1,100 farms and 570,000 dogs.

Anti-cruelty groups have lobbied for such a ban for decades, although a spokesperson for Humane Society International Korea told the Associated Press that offering payouts could result in farmers “potentially increasing dog breeding to get more money from the scheme and more puppies being born into suffering.” 

The Korean Animal Welfare Association called on local governments to strictly monitor farms to prevent them from breeding more dogs for compensation.

Once the ban comes into force, the Agriculture Ministry said that it will encourage people to adopt dogs from closed farms in order to limit the amount of euthanizations carried out.