"It's Their Destiny"
 
News items on Asian animal abuse 
 
11th January 2004 
 
New Dog-Meat Legalisation Attempt
 
Dear Friends
 
You may have already heard from our colleagues at IAKA/KAPS of the new attempt by the self-confessed dog-eating President of South Korea to legalise dog meat. For those of you that haven't, the part of their 31st December newsletter on this is reproduced below.
 
We urge all of you to join in IAKA/KAPS email and letter writing campaign. To assist further, we have published a list of the email addresses of 217 South Korean Assemblymen on our web site at http://itstheirdestiny.2kat.net (click on the "How to help" link on the menu). This list was verified on 9th January 2004 and all these addresses currently work. We have also provided a sample email to send to these Assemblymen although, if at all possible, please try to write an original.
 
The extract from IAKA/KAPS follows:
 

For the past year, KAPS/IAKA and animal friends from around world have been lobbying the Korean government to not adopt a draft law which would recognize two classes of animal – pets and livestock.  Dogs and cats would not be excepted from their definition and would therefore be “raised” as livestock for human consumption.  KAPS has argued that dogs and cats need to be a special category, recognizing their longstanding role as companion animals, that could not be raised as livestock.  Nevertheless, the Korean government appears to be determined to adopt the new law and has set in motion a process that could result in it being approves by the Korean National Assembly in July 2004.

 

This, of course, is terrible news.  If this law passes as planned, only dogs and cats raised explicitly as pets will be protected.  Not only does this mean that dogs and cats raised for human consumption will have no protection from abuse whatsoever but it also allows for any dog abuser to get away with torturing these animals, legally, just as long as he claims the animal is not a pet.  

 

We are asking you to send as many protest letters as possible to Korean President and the Ministry of Agriculture.  This matter is most urgent, as the Korean government has already set up a time-line for the introduction of this new law: the law will be drafted and then sent to Korean Animal related organizations for review in February 2004, before being passed on to National Assembly.  Please write protest letters in both email and regular mail and encourage others to do so, too.  (President Roh Moo-Hyun does not have an email address.  If you try emailing the Minister of Agriculture and the message does not go through, please consider sending a letter through the mail instead.  AN .80˘ STAMP IS REQUIRED FOR LETTERS MAILED FROM THE U.S. TO KOREA.)

 

 Animal Protection Law amendment schedule

* Consult related organizations and draw up Amendment: February, 2004
* Consult related departments and notify the public legislation in advance: March to      

April, 2004
* Amendment examination by Regulation Inspection Committee: May to June, 2004
* Parliament submission: July, 2004
* Legislation: August to December, 2004
* Enforcement: January, 2005

 

Send protest letters to:

 

President Roh Moo-Hyun

Blue House

1 Sejong-Ro, Jongno-gu

Seoul

South Korea, 110-050

 

 

 

Minister Huh Sang-man

The Ministry of Agriculture

1 Jungang-dong, Gwacheon

Gyeonggi Prov.

South Korea, 427-760

-or-

wmaster@maf.go.kr

 

 

Sample letter to President Roh, Moo-Hyun:

 

 

Dear President Roh, Moo-Hyun,

 

I am appalled to learn the Korean Government is currently drafting an amendment to the Animal Protection Law of 1991, making a distinction between certain breeds of dogs as meat-producing livestock animals and other breeds as pets. In the draft law, the definition of pet animal is an attempt to give legitimacy to dog and cat meat.  The dogs and cats are protected only if people raised them purposely as pet animal. This means that any dog or cat purposely raised for food will not be protected. Not only does this deprive protection to animals who are raised for food or medicine but will also result in a situation where the law cannot punish any animal abuser who claims that their dog or cat was raised for any purposes other than pets.  In 1991 your own government acknowledged that all dogs, not just certain breeds, were entitled to protection from cruelty, mistreatment, and abuse.  Any amendment leaving dogs and cats purposely bred for food or medicine without protection would be a grave injustice and a major setback for the animal protection efforts in Korea.

 

If this new law passes, it would make Korea the first and only country in the entire world to explicitly legitimize dog meat, legally sanctioning dog and cat killing for human consumption. This would bring a great mark of shame to your country, especially when the overwhelming majority of the rest of the world has banned dog-meat, including Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.  In fact, Taiwan has recently strengthened their law to ban the killing and selling dogs as food. Almost every other country in the world, especially those as developed as Korea, is moving forward with animal protection laws.  Why do you want to embarrass your country and let it be known as the only country taking a step backwards?

 

Our boycott of Korea’s bid for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games was successful.  After choosing Vancouver, Canada, as the host city, the International Olympic Committee sent letters to International Aid for Korean Animals and The Korea Animal Protection Society asking them and their supporters to stop bombarding their offices with protest cards.  I promise that if the proposed amendment to the Animal Protection Law of 1991 passes, we will do everything in our power to se that Korea will loose all of its bids to host any major event, including all international sporting events and World Expositions.  I, and my many animal loving friends from around world, will send protest letter after protest letter informing the organizers of such events as to the horrors that take place inside Korea, letting them know that they should reconsider before choosing Korea as a host city. 

 

All Dog and Cat are companion pet animals and should not be raised for human consumption.

 

Yours sincerely

Name/Country

 
 
At ITD we are very proud of the degree of involvement that our members and supporters always show in the fight to end the state-sanctioned abuse of animals in South Korea. We have no doubt that together we can make a significant contribution to this latest international campaign of IAKA/KAPS.
 
Our continued thanks to all of you for caring.
From all the team at ITD
 
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