Jung Min-ho has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2012, mostly covering social and political issues. He currently belongs to the Politics & City Desk where he covers topics such as health, labor and human rights. Prior to joining the team, he was responsible for covering North Korea and sports. His article about a biosecurity breach of Middle East respiratory syndrome won him an award from the Korea Science Journalists Association in 2016. He is also the co-author of the book, "Medical Pioneers of Korea" (2019). He served as the head of the international relations committee at the Journalists Association of Korea from 2021 to 2023.
Belgium bans halal and kosher animal slaughter
Animals must now be stunned before their throats are cut in religious rituals. gettyimagesbank
By Jung Min-ho
By Jung Min-ho
A Belgian ban on the Muslim and Jewish ways of slaughtering animals came into force on Jan. 1 as tensions grow over the balance between animal welfare and religious freedom.
The law, which some critics said is a “great assault” on minority religious rights in the country, bans religious ways of killing animals, which requires butchers to slit the animals' throats while they are conscious.
All animals now have to be stunned electrically before being killed, which many animal rights activists think “more humane.”
But European Jewish Congress president Moshe Kantor urged legislators to “step back from the brink of the greatest assault on Jewish religious rights.”
“It attacks the very core of our culture and religious practice and our status as equal citizens with equal rights in a democratic society,” he
.
Last year, several religious organizations filed lawsuits to stop the legislation, saying the European Court of Human Rights previously described kosher slaughter as an essential part of the practice of the Jewish religion.
There are about 30,000 Jews and 500,000 Muslims in Belgium.