Dogs are locked up in cages at a dog farm in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, before a rescue operation by Humane Society International on March 27, 2023. Courtesy of Humane Society International Korea

The government should deploy sufficient administrative force and budget for a crackdown to bring a practical end to the country's age-old practice of eating dog meat, animal rights experts said Monday, amid growing concerns that the industry could continue operating in the shadows even after a legal ban on the practice takes effect in 2027.

The National Assembly passed a special bill, Jan. 9, banning the breeding, butchering, distributing and selling of dogs for meat amid growing awareness of animal rights in the country.

Animal rights lawyer Park Joo-yeon, who co-founded People for Non-Human Rights (PNR), a pro bono association of animal rights lawyers, told The Korea Times that the special bill gives more authority to local governments to carry out factual surveys and on-site inspections of dog meat traders and administer penalties.

"It now depends on the government's will and use of its administrative power," Park said.

The government could — but did not seek to — codify the legal gray areas that made the dog meat trade both legal and illegal, Park said.

"Even before the special bill passed, slaughtering dogs for food consumption was prohibited under the Food Sanitation Act, but there was no law that bans the consumption itself, creating ambiguity. So the government may have had difficulties actively controlling the industry in the past," she said, highlighting that the special bill now provides the legal grounds to authorities and obliges them to regulate the trade.

According to a government survey from 2022, there are 1,156 dog farms in the country that raise over 520,000 dogs for meat consumption, and 1,666 restaurants that sell over 388,000 dogs for food per year.

Park said this leaves another challenge for the government, as the number of those dogs should not grow any higher in the phase-out of the industry.

The special bill states that dog meat farmers are required to either sell their remaining stock or send them away for adoption during a three-year grace period, and the government is currently mulling over its compensation plan.

Park said the possibility should be considered that dog farmers will continue to breed dogs over the next three years to obtain more support money.

Jo Hyun-jeong, head of the policy planning team at Korean Animal Rights Advocates (KARA), echoed Park's view, urging the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs to form a task force and map out a plan to phase out the industry for good.

The agriculture ministry said its draft plan to end Korea's dog meat trade is scheduled to be announced around July and August.

The Korean Association of Edible Dog, a group consisting of dog meat farmers and restaurant owners, claimed that farmers are entitled to receive support money of 2 million won ($1,522) per canine.

However, the compensation sought by the industry representatives, which totals over 1 trillion won, is unlikely, as the ministry has only 17.4 trillion won budgeted for next year.

The future of 520,000 dogs still on farms is another challenge.

The special bill stipulates the agriculture ministry is to protect and manage dogs from farms after they shut down, but experts questioned the government's capacity to do so.

The state-run animal shelters nationwide are already overcrowded with abandoned animals, while these dogs, which typically weigh over 20 kilograms and are traumatized from living in filthy conditions, often have difficulties to be adopted in Korea, they said.

Cho Hee-kyung, head of the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA), said domestic animal advocacy groups will "do our utmost to rescue dogs and find new families for them." But she admitted the "tragic cost" of shutting down the cruel industry and "prevent more tragedies in the future" could be necessary.