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| / Yonhap |
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Olympics provide local journalists with an opportunity to figure out how the host country is perceived by the international media.
While covering the Olympics here in PyeongChang, this reporter learned there's a lesser-known fact about dogs in Korea_ dogs are among Koreans' favorite domesticated animals.
Over 10 million dogs live with Koreans at home. For most, dogs are part of the family, not a meal.
There was a media report about Dutch skater Jan Blockhuusen's remark on dogs in Korea at a news conference after the Dutch team won a bronze medal in the men's team pursuit at the Gangneung Oval Wednesday night.
He started by mentioning a broken spring in his left skate and said this negatively affected his skating in the semifinals against Norway.
"I think you can compare it to cycling a time trial on a flat tire. It's just a racing on one skate and if you have to do a 26-second lap, that's very hard," he said.
Near the end of the press conference, the Dutch skater said, "Please treat dogs better in this country."
According to the media report, Blockhuusen abruptly made the remark while leaving the venue packed with Korean and Japanese journalists.
This reporter was not there, so has no idea in what context the Dutch skater made such a comment.
If he tried to voice concern about animal rights in Korea, he's off track because dog meat culture is disappearing rapidly.
But Blockhuijsen is not the only one who perceives Koreans as dog eaters.
An American journalist raised the same issue at a daily news briefing last week. He asked about the consumption and sales trends of dog meat in Korea.
Sung Baik-you, spokesman of the PyeongChang Olympics organizing committee, said he is unaware of any restaurants or retailers selling dog meat in the nation because Koreans rarely eat dogs.
Koreans' awareness of animal rights has risen as dogs have become increasingly popular as pets over the past decade.
A high-profile dog bite case last year highlights the nature of dog-human relationships in this country.
The 53-year-old owner of the upscale Korean restaurant Hanilgwan in posh southern Seoul died days after she was bitten by Bugsy, an unleashed French bulldog owned by K-pop star Choi Si-won's family.
The cause of her death was blood poisoning. Pseudomonas bacteria was found in her bloodstream and her blood was believed to have been infected by bacteria through the dog bite on her leg.
Bugsy had bitten people before the tragic canine aggression but the Choi family didn't take this seriously and took the unleashed dog everywhere they went.
The fatal dog bite case has led to a series of regulations strengthening dog owners' responsibility to control their dogs in public spaces.
The canine aggression incident and resultant regulatory measures caused a heated debate about animal rights and dog owners' responsibilities. Dog owners predominantly favored their dogs unleashed in public.
Koreans are still misrepresented as dog eaters, even though dog meat culture began disappearing a long time ago. Few Koreans today see dogs as a source of food.
