South Korea is attempting to ban the practice of eating dogs, but the government’s plan faces criticism from both the dog meat industry and animal rights activists. Veuer’s Matt Hoffman reports.
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00:00South Korea is attempting to ban the practice of eating dogs, but it's not going to be easy.
00:05In January, the country passed a bill outlawing the practice to take effect in 2027.
00:10On Thursday, Vice Agriculture Minister Park Byung-soo announced that the government would spend 100 billion won,
00:16or $75 million, on incentives for people in the dog meat industry to close up shop.
00:21Some in the industry aren't satisfied.
00:23Joo Young-bong is the head of the Korean Association of Edible Dog.
00:27He says the plan is not reasonable at all, and that we will close our business only when there's reasonable compensation first.
00:34And some Korean animal rights activists aren't happy either.
00:37According to the AP, Sang Kyung Lee of the Humane Society International's Korea office says
00:42paying farmers per dog will potentially increase dog breeding to get more money from the scheme,
00:48and more puppies will be born into suffering.
00:50The AP says South Korea is the only country in the world with industrial-scale dog meat farms.
00:56But the BBC reports that eating dog is an uncommon and declining practice there.
01:00A Gallup poll last year found that only 8% of people reported eating dog meat in the preceding 12 months,
01:06down from 27% in 2015.