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| First lady Kim Keon Hee speaks during a press conference held by civic groups at the Press Center in central Seoul, Wednesday. The press conference was held to call for legislation to ban dog meat consumption. Korea Times photo by Yun Seo-young |
By Jun Ji-hye
First lady Kim Keon Hee vowed to continue to make efforts and conduct a campaign to end the country's contentious culture of eating dog meat, during a surprise appearance at a news conference hosted by civic groups, Wednesday.
"I will become friends with these people (members of the civic groups), and campaign and make efforts to bring an end to dog meat consumption. I promise," Kim said during the press conference that was held to call on the National Assembly to legislate a law banning dog meat consumption.
"Humans and animals should coexist. Illegal dog meat activities should be put to an end."
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| First lady Kim Keon Hee shows a picture of a puppy on the back of her hand during a press conference held by civic groups at the Press Center in central Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Yun Seo-young |
Kim then had a closed-door conversation with the participants for about 15 minutes, further solidifying her commitment to the cause.
Cho Hee-kyung, head of the Korea Animal Welfare Association, who was among those involved in the conversation, later told reporters that the first lady vowed to play a role to eradicate illegal activities and ban dog meat consumption.
During the press conference, Lee Sang-kyung, a campaigner from the Humane Society International (HSI) Korea, said some 520,000 dogs are still raised for food at 1,156 dog meat farms in Korea as of 2021.
"The process of breeding dogs, slaughter, delivery and sales are all in violation of the law, including the Animal Protection Law and Food Sanitation Act," Lee said. "Members of the public no longer tolerate the old custom of eating dogs."
Urging the National Assembly to pass the related law within its tenure, Lee also called on the government to establish a roadmap for an end to dog meat consumption and be more active in dealing with illegal activities.
The first lady has been openly supporting a ban on all types of dog meat consumption.
In July, when she had a conversation with renowned primatologist and environmental activist, Jane Goodall, who visited Korea at the time, Kim said she has made efforts and will continue to make efforts to end dog meat consumption.
During her interview with a newspaper in June last year, she also mentioned the issue, saying Korea and China are the only countries among big economies where people eat dog meat.
At the time, she said the issue could be solved through policies by, for example, supporting people working in the dog meat industry to change jobs.
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