She had heard that a dog cafe in the Apkujong (Apgujeong) area has about one day to find homes for about thirty dogs, apparently ones from this “Auschwitz for dogs” story.

If anyone knows of anything and can post it in the next fifteen minutes, that would be very helpful. She and her companion, apparently, would like to see if they can adopt one.

By the way, I saw the sky today. In general, it was blue. Need a stat on that?

You’re not that guy who’s on the Internet and says “I bet I’ve eaten more dog meat than any other white man in Korea”, are you? Maybe you and Ted Nugent could have a love-in.

You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that dogs in Korea are severely mistreated, and that a a lot of them have the crud knocked out of them to get that tender consistency. I’ve seen it. Lots of other people have seen it. Koreans themselves have seen it and ask for it, to boot. An earlier poster said this is not exactly news, so why are you so keen to deny its widespread?

You also don’t need to be a genius to figure out that foreign English teachers in Korea screw their underaged students. I’ve seen it. Lots of other people have seen it. Foreign English teachers know about it and come here to screw their underaged students, to boot. Likewise, this is not exactly news in Korea, as a quick look at Korean news portal sites, the comments sections thereof and Korean blogs/bulletin boards will reveal, so I wonder why so many foreign English teachers arre so keen to deny that foreign English teachers in Korea are all pedaphiles whenever such news breaks?

Boy, that was fun.

You keep insisting on “getting the figures first” but as another earlier poster intoned, do you really think this is someting they would brag about? Is there really an official Korean goverenment statisttic for ‘Ratio of Beaten/Not Beaten Dogs in Korean Boshintang Joints’? Even if such a number were to exist do you really think same government would not wish to ‘improve’ this figure for foreign consumption? C’mon, even you have to admit that’s pretty unlikely.

Alright, at this point, since this is apparently too difficult for you to back up your claims with anything other than “I saw this” and “Lots of people told me this,” I won’t tax you with citing sources, biased or otherwise, that would give us some picture about the dogmeat industry in Korea. At this rate, I’ll settle for any statistics–official or otherwise–about dogmeat. Any. For example, officially, how many dogmeat restaurants are there in Korea, and how many dogs are slaughtered annually. Should be simple. I’ll even help you out–the last official statistics taken on that sort of thing was in 1998. It took me a minute to find. Shouldn’t take you much longer.

Are you perhaps a tad naive about economics? 101 - the customer dictates the market and if Korean men prefer their meat tender a-la a good ol’ adreneline inducing beating-because a beaten dog is the best for ‘night power’- then that’s what the market will provide.

Again, broad generalizations about the motives of dog meat consumers, backed by, well, nothing other than your own limited experience and understanding of the Korean practice of eating dogmeat. Oh, and not so subtle innuendo that Korean men are concerned about and need help for their “night-power.” Interestingly enough–and to show you that one can actually find numbers if you just muster the energy to run a search–at least one survey revealed that 43 percent of women have tried dog meat. Of those, 56 percent eat it [at least] once every six months, while 36 percent said they have it once a year. Of those that haven’t eaten it, 32 percent said they would if the opportunity arose. And since personal experience apparently means so much, I’ve dated at least one dog meat eater, and I see women at dogmeat places all the time. Heck, last time I went to one, some ajummah club was having lunch. Must have been working on their “night-power.”  [ADDED]: But just because I’m a nice guy, I’ll grant that some dogmeat eaters consume the meat because they think it will improve their libido (just as some Westerners apparently eat raw oysters for reasons other than taste, and why some Koreans eat eel and octopus, for that matter), and furthermore, I’ll also grant that dogmeat has traditionally been more of a “guy” thing.  And because I’m in an especially generous mood, and I like for my blog to be an educational experience, I’ll actually give you a link looking at this phenomenon.

It’s illegal to beat an animal to death in many countries. What’s more, the vast majority (sorry, no official figures on hand) of western people would be up in arms if even cows were killed in the way dogs are in SK. Not just PETA animal rights nutjobs, this would be gross to the average Joe Blow.

Yeah, and it’s illegal to beat an animal to death in Korea, too. And judging from the netizen response to the article linked above, many Koreans are up in arms about the way in which those animals were treated. And not just the anti-dogmeat notjobs, mind you. Does this mean there aren’t cases of dog abuse in Korea? Of course not. It happens much more than it should. Kind of like gun violence in the United States, which happens much more than it should, and much like violence inflicted on dogs in Korea, the perps all too often are left unpunished. I guess that means all Americans are violent murders.

I don’t disrespect other cultures’ views on the utilization/treatment of animals just because they have a different view from my western view. In fact I’ve come to really respect the position of people like the Sioux Indians a whole hell of a lot more than proponents of the Korean dog meat industry. For the Sioux, hunting is fine, killing is fine, both are necessary to their sustenance and cultural survival. But mistreating an animal to the extent we see here is a sacrilege which would negate the value of sustaining the culture in the first place.

Assuming, of course, that mistreating the animal is part of the culture. And by culture, I assume you mean the “dogmeat culture” rather than “Korean culture,” of which, Korean dogmeat opponents generally argue, dogmeat is not traditionally a part. Anyway, do you have anything to back up what appears to be your assertion that it is? Other than, of course, what you personally saw and heard? Because I’ve personally seen and heard differently. And before you talk about respecting people like the Sioux a whole lot more than proponents of the Korean dog meat industry, might I suggest, if you haven’t already, actually reading the arguments made by proponents of the Korean dog meat industry, like here (stick with the Korean, it’s clearer and more in-depth) and here and my personal favorite, here.

You don’t need to be a genius to figure out that dogs in Korea are severely mistreated, and that a a lot of them have the crud knocked out of them to get that tender consistency. I’ve seen it. Lots of other people have seen it. Koreans themselves have seen it and ask for it, to boot. An earlier poster said this is not exactly news, so why are you so keen to deny its widespread?

Your attempts to show “inconsistencies in my reasoning” remind me of a dog chasing its own tail. To distract from the points I made way back in my original post you revert to the same tired distractions: ‘But, not all dogs are killed that way, surely!’ and ‘But animals in the West are mistreated, too’ and ‘Animals, shaminals, they’re all the same.’ and my favorite ”Well, I’ll think it over while you go get the ‘official figures.’

Are you perhaps a tad naive about economics? 101 - the customer dictates the market and if Korean men prefer their meat tender a-la a good ol’ adreneline inducing beating
-because a beaten dog is the best for ‘night power’- then that’s what the market will provide. If you go to a raw fish restaurant you’ll see the same principle in action, customers want freshly cut fish right out of the tank even though transporting fish in water and keeping an aquarium is expensive. Another? Transporting live lobsters is expensive, but customers pay for it because it tastes much better than frozen meat. On and on. So there you have it, lowest price is not always the primary concern of the customer. Not so difficult now, is it?

As for the fact that animals in the west are also mistreated, who’s arguing? I said so myself in my first post. Remember? I also made it clear why I think dogs are different from cows and chickens etc. Dogs are social and chickens/cows are plain dumb. To me and a lot of people yes that is an important distinction.

It’s illegal to beat an animal to death in many countries. What’s more, the vast majority (sorry, no official figures on hand) of western people would be up in arms if even cows were killed in the way dogs are in SK. Not just PETA animal rights nutjobs, this would be gross to the average Joe Blow.

You keep insisting on “getting the figures first” but as another earlier poster intoned, do you really think this is someting they would brag about? Is there really an official Korean goverenment statisttic for ‘Ratio of Beaten/Not Beaten Dogs in Korean Boshintang Joints’? Even if such a number were to exist do you really think same government would not wish to ‘improve’ this figure for foreign consumption? C’mon, even you have to admit that’s pretty unlikely.

I don’t disrespect other cultures’ views on the utilization/treatment of animals just because they have a different view from my western view. In fact I’ve come to really respect the position of people like the Sioux Indians a whole hell of a lot more than proponents of the Korean dog meat industry. For the Sioux, hunting is fine, killing is fine, both are necessary to their sustenance and cultural survival. But mistreating an animal to the extent we see here is a sacrilege which would negate the value of sustaining the culture in the first place.

I refer you again to Gandhi: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

Perhaps some Koreans and keeners who eat dog meat should chew on that thought. It’s mighty tasty.

The point of my last posting was to highlight what I think are inconsistencies in your reasoning. I understand what you’re saying, but I just think you’re wrong. I’m afraid I just can’t draw a moral line between eating dogs and eating pigs or whatever. And I don’t accept that dog eating always and everywhere equals bloodthirsty, sexually inadequate sadists.

I imagine you’d respond by saying beating dogs is such an intrinsic part of the meat eating culture that they are simply inseparable. But fast food chains in the US and elsewhere live or die by their ability to knock out dirt-cheap food en masse; doesn’t this then encourage those companies to cut costs by mistreating animals? By this reasoning, animals’ suffering is so central to the culture of fast food places that they should all be banned immediately. Do you buy this argument? Me neither. There are such things as pressure groups, and opinions change over time. Do you think that a story such as the one that kicked off our postings would have caused such a ripple in Korea 30 years ago?

You said: “Trendy shits who eat dog but separate themselves from the tortuous killing process are, in my subjective foreign opinion, no less guilty than the dog farmers/beaters.”
Where to begin? Well, for starters, you assume that all such dogs are still killed by the barbaric beating method. I have no figures on this, assuming any exist, but I find that a little hard to swallow. Wouldn’t places supplying these mutts to restaurants find it a lot more economical, not to mention less taxing, just to break their necks or something? You also assume that all foreigners who eat dog do it to be trendy, dismissing any farfetched notions that they may actually like the taste. You also seem to suggest they do it in full knowledge that all dogs meet with ghastly ends. Do you know how the last pig or turkey you ate was killed? And Mook, you should really be a little less sensitive about perhaps two uses of the word “subjective” 20-odd posts ago. No-one dismissed your arguments because they were subjective; they just said that to declare dogs to be innately superior is s distinctly subjective call. Do you disagree with that?

1) Dogs in Korea are kept in conditions as in the pics above, then beaten to death over several hours to produce ‘tender’ meat. Cows, pigs and chickens are not beaten to death in this manner, correct?

2) Trendy shits who eat dog but separate themselves from the tortuous killing process are, in my subjective foreign opinion, no less guilty than the dog farmers/beaters.

Read again slowly and repeat until comprehension is complete.

To all those men with that ’special night problem’ may I suggest Viagra?

gbevers you hit the nail on the proverbial head.