"We believe this ban marks a significant turning point in South Korea's attitude to animal protection," said Lee Sang-kyung, a spokesperson for the local branch of the Humane Society International, an animal rights group. "(This) is testament to the passion and determination of our animal-loving public and politicians who reached a tipping point to consign this outdated industry to our history books."

This doesn't look like it will do anything for "animals" as people will just eat other animal meat. It just appeases western sensibilities about what the world is allowed to eat.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 15 points 2 years ago

It's more shallow than that: dog consumption was already nearly eradicated except among the poorest in South Korean society. This is a cheap optics win for a fascist administration trying to take eyes off of the failures of President Yoon's economic policy, or him targeting women, minorities, and disabled people.

It's good that dog meat is banned, but it was already rapidly fading. It wasn't a delicacy, it was for the poorest of the poor and now Yoon gets to pat himself on the back.