By Jung Min-ho
Animal rights activists around the world are targeting the Incheon Asian Games to urge the “end to the appalling dog meat trade.”
The activists mailed a hard copy of a petition containing 73,296 signatures along with comments on Aug. 25 to 43 members of the Olympic Council of Asia, Marianne Persson, a leading activist, told The Korea Times on Wednesday.
The campaigners are ramping up their effort to attract global attention through activities on social media as Asia’s biggest sporting event started on Friday.
“I urge you today to please boycott the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea and stand against the appalling and despicable cruelty committed against the millions of innocent dogs in South Korea every year,” the activists said in the petition. “And now is the time for South Korea to start taking animal protection seriously.”
Also, the activists recently sent a separate petition letter to Korean companies, including sponsors of the Games such as Samung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, to ask them to set up internal rules for workers to ban the eating of meat from dogs.
“We believe that without the support of the Korean conglomerates for banning dog meat consumption, eradication of the dog meat industry in Korea is almost impossible,” Persson said.
As of Friday, an online petition on the website denouncing Koreans’ fondness for eating dogs, www.change.org, had received 73,544 signatures and the activists will send a letter again when the number reaches 100,000.
The campaign has been going on for years and it appears to be drawing increasing interest.
Early this year, the activists received responses from the Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs about their complaint.
“Dogs are not regarded as livestock under the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, which means that dog meat is currently not approved as food,” the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said. “Nonetheless, Koreans have been cooking and eating dogs for a long time, so we are not prohibiting the cooking and selling of dog meat at restaurants.”
The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said the issue requires public consensus so it will deal with the matter in a “prudent way from a long term perspective.”
“In short, what they are saying is that the dog meat industry is illegal, but since too many people are breaking the law and it’s been overlooked for far too long, they will continue to protect this illegal, criminal industry,” Persson said.
The activists’ allegation may further cloud the atmosphere of the Asian Games, which has already been beset by financial problems, poor infrastructure and a perceived lack of buzz.
Awareness about rights is growing and activists often use international events to get their political messages across to people. And they have scored some meaningful achievements.
In 2011, a 600-year-old dog-meat festival in Zhejiang, eastern China, was shut down after years of protest. Yet the culture still remains as a political liability for any international events to be held in Korea.