Activists protest use of pets for food on International Day of Action for Dogs and Cats in South Korea

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Today is the International Day of Action for Dogs and Cats in South Korea, an event organized by the group In Defense of Animals to protest the use of pet animals for food.

In Seoul, members of the group Coexistence for Animal Rights on Earth wore dog costumes and climbed into cages in a downtown plaza to draw attention to the issue. ‘Dogs and cats are not livestock, but they are our partners. They are not food, but they are our friends,’ one protester told New Tang Dynasty Television. ‘We should abolish the bad habits of eating dogs or cats.’ Other demonstrations were planned at South Korean consulates and embassies around the world.

While only a tiny percentage of people in South Korea eat dogs, reports suggest that about 6,000 restaurants in the country engage in the practice of serving them, according to Slate magazine. And although the practice is illegal under South Korean law, an underground industry continues to flourish.

The group International Aid for Korean Animals attempts to explain what it considers an essential paradox in the consumption of dog meat. ‘The importance placed on a respect for animals and the environment in Korea has ancient roots and remains powerful in contemporary society,’ reads a statement on the group’s website.

But, the group says, an economic boom in the 1980s, rather than increasing the public’s consumption of other meat products, allowed the underground market for dogs and cats to flourish. ‘This led for the first time to the consumption of tonics made from cats as a fraudulent cure for common rheumatism and arthritis. Dogs have always been one of Korea’s most beloved animals, so dog-butchers had to begin emphasizing the distinction between food-dogs and pet-dogs,’ the statement continues.

Animal advocacy groups argue that dog meat, contrary to a popular talking point, is not traditional cuisine in South Korea. But others disagree. ‘It’s my country’s own food culture, so South Koreans will continue to eat dog meat no matter what other countries say against it,’ Park Seo-ho, who owns a restaurant that sells dog meat, told the BBC when a controversy arose over the practice shortly before the country hosted soccer’s World Cup in 2002.

-- Lindsay Barnett