With the implementation of the revised Animal Protection Act last year, killing animals without "justifiable reasons" will be banned from April 27th this year.
In the past, animal protection laws and enforcement regulations could only punish animals for killing them in the ways listed in the law, such as "brutal ways" or "in the presence of other animals of the same species."
The revised law prohibits the death of animals without "justifiable reasons," so that animals can be killed exceptionally only if there are special reasons based on the law.
With the implementation of the revised Animal Protection Act, the cessation of using dogs for food is also expected to accelerate. Until now, slaughtering dogs for edible purposes has existed as a blind spot of law between illegality and legality. This is because the court has expanded the scope of interpretation of "brutal methods," but did not prohibit slaughter for edible purposes itself.
In fact, from 2011 to July 2016, there was a case in Gimpo, where 30 dogs were slaughtered by electrocuting them with an electric iron skewer. In response, the first trial and the court acquitted the "reality of eating dogs," and the second trial judge acquitted the court on the grounds that "Korea's animal protection law does not prohibit owners from killing animals."
However, because dog slaughter for edible purposes does not correspond to any justifiable reason specified in the revised Animal Protection Act, punishment cannot be avoided if dog slaughter for edible purposes is carried out, and a punishment of up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won is imposed.
"The Food Sanitation Act prohibited the use of dogs as food ingredients in 2016, and the animal protection law made the dog industry completely illegal this time. And there is no doubt that the various provisions of the revised law will play a major role in further promoting animal rights and animal welfare" said Cho Hee-kyung, a representative of the Korean Animal Welfare Association.