Petition: https://chng.it/tJZfW6wg

Click below for more actions you can take.
https://koreandogs.org/sister-state-gyeonggi-virginia/
https://koreandogs.org/sister-state-gyeonggi-florida/
https://koreandogs.org/gyeonggi-utah/
https://koreandogs.org/gyeonggi-bc/
https://koreandogs.org/gyeonggi-queensland/

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin,
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis,
Utah Governor Spencer J. Cox,
British Columbia(Canada) Premier David Eby,
Queensland(Australia) Premier Steven Miles,
Tell your Sister State, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, that you are opposed to the torture and consumption of dogs and cats.

Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, became a Sister Province with the provinces/states of: 
Virginia, the United States in 1997,
Florida, the United States in 2000,
Utah, the United States in 1983,
British Columbia, Canada, in 2008,
Queensland, Australia, in 1997.

These relationships were undoubtedly formed in the spirit of friendship and for your mutual benefit, business links, trade, etc. And, while your states would have expected to learn about the differences in cultural practices of the Gyeonggi Province citizens, we feel sure that your states would have hesitated to form such Sister State relationships had your states known about the aberrant and cruel practices routinely carried out in the dog and cat meat industries in Gyeonggi Province and all over South Korea. Lucrative but illegal trades carry on unchallenged, with no enforcement of the laws and no punishment for those violating them.

South Korea is the home to global companies, such as Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, LG, Daewoo, SK, and POSCO, which is why it is so shocking that an estimated 2.5 million dogs are tortured and slaughtered every year within South Korea because of the greed of dog eaters and the dog meat industry; while the majority of those Koreans, who don't participate in this offensive trade, show a profound indifference by doing nothing at all to stop it.

We know how loyal and faithful our dogs across the world are. We all ask a lot of them - they serve us in innumerable ways: farm work, war work, police, and guard duties, search and rescue, help for the disabled, guiding and guardianship, and, of course, as our loving and trusting companions.

Dogs were first domesticated thousands of years ago, and they want so much to be part of our 'human' family that they have learned to understand our gestures and language—the language of another species—showing remarkable willingness and intelligence.

Despite the passage of the “Special Bill to end the breeding, slaughter, and distribution of dogs for consumption and dog meat consumption” by South Korea’s National Assembly on January 9, 2024, which mandates all operations to cease, the situation remains dire. Dogs confined in dog farms in Gyeonggi Province and across South Korea continue to suffer immensely.

For example, six hundred dogs are suffering at a dog farm operated by officials of the Korean Dog Farmers Association in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province. Thousands of dogs endure excruciating conditions at a massive dog farm in Pyeongtaek, operated by a former Korean Dog Farmers Trade Association president. Animal advocates with limited resources must take on the challenging task of investigating, filing complaints, and urging their governments to enforce laws and shut down illegal dog farms like this. However, it’s crucial to underscore that the primary responsibility for enforcing these laws lies with the government, not the advocates themselves. Despite this, governmental responses are often tepid, lacking immediate action, and their apparent indifference to the immense suffering of these animals is deeply shameful.

Gyeonggi Province is the largest dog meat supplier and consumption province in South Korea. There are thousands of dog farms, dog slaughterhouses, dog meat restaurants, and so-called “Health Centers” serving soup made of dog meat as an elixir. Dogs suffer their entire lives in filthy, feces-encrusted raised wire cages in utter misery, only to be slaughtered in the most horrific of ways. They are killed by electrocution, hammer strikes to their head and necks, being hung, being beaten to death, having their throats slit, being burned alive with a blowtorch, or being thrown into a vat of boiling water while still alive. In many places in Gyeonggi Province, dogs are killed in full view of other terrified, caged dogs who tremble with terror. In addition, people’s beloved pets are often stolen and sold to these businesses, where they meet the same horrific fate. Dogs and puppies who died of diseases are tossed away like garbage, often left in front of cages to rot while the mother dogs watch and cry out in despair for their dead babies.

We ask you to please watch the undercover videos from South Korea’s dog meat industry:
Part 1 of 2: https://youtu.be/_ZVQjgGb4RQ
Part 2 of 2: https://vimeo.com/754160791

Forest fire in Uljin burns dogs imprisoned in dog meat farms: https://youtu.be/mh1lEGt2gjU
https://youtu.be/GLLeI_XFNPg
Dogs who suffered their entire lives are electric tortured and killed in cages—South Korea’s horrific dog meat industry. https://koreandogs.org/jtbc-news-electric-tortured-in-cages/

There are laws in South Korea against selling dogs and cats for consumption, yet these laws are blatantly ignored.

There must surely be some social responsibility for the representatives of one state to take a stand against any wrongdoing being sanctioned or ignored by their Sister state. As such, we ask you to please urge Governor Kim Dong-yeon to take action and to state that your state and its citizens demand that Gyeonggi Province issue an official document mandating that the following existing Korean laws enforced by its government officials, police, and judges:

Breeding:

Unauthorized processing of food waste fed to dogs in the meat trade violates the Wastes Control Act, Article 15-2, Article 25, Section 3. Suppliers of food waste and transporters of food waste to dog meat farms are violating this regulation. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than five years or by a fine not exceeding 50 million won per  Article 64 of the Waste Control Act. Imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or by a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 65 of the Waste Management Act.)

The unauthorized collection of food waste and feeding it to dogs violates the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act, Article 14, Sections 1 & 2. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 33 of the Control of Livestock and Fish Feed Act.)

Excrement and resulting environmental damage produced as a by-product of the illegal dog meat farm violate the Act on the Management and Use of Livestock Excreta. The excrement produced at dog meat farms causes environmental damage to the immediate and surrounding area. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than two years or a fine not exceeding 20 million won per Article 49 of the Act on the Management and Use of Livestock Excreta.)

Slaughter:

Slaughtering dogs for human consumption violates the Animal Protection Act Article 10, Section 1, Clause 1-4. Killing an animal by hanging it by the neck or by using any other cruel methods; killing an animal on the street or any other places open to the public; or killing an animal with animals of the same kind present at the scene despite the absence of unavoidable reasons such as the animal's habits and ecological environment using the animal as food for other animals; killing an animal without any justifiable grounds such as prescribed by Ordinance of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, such as prevention of direct threats to human life or body or property damage is a clear violation of the Animal Protection Act.

The slaughter of dogs by electrocution violates the Animal Protection Act, Article 10, Section 2, Clause 1. Inflicting an injury to animals by physical or chemical means, such as tools or drugs, is subject to legal punishment. Therefore, the routine slaughter of dogs by butchers and farmers by these methods violates the Act.  (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than three years or a fine not exceeding 30 million won per Article 97 of the Animal Protection Act.) Further, electrocution as a method of slaughter is internationally recognized as an inherently cruel method of slaughter and banned globally. In Korea, the Supreme Court in 2020 convicted a case of slaughtering a dog using an electric iron skewer.

The slaughter of dogs from an unauthorized slaughterhouse violates the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, Article 7 Section 1. The Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act states that dogs are officially recognized and classified as “animals” that are “prohibited from being slaughtered and distributed as food for human consumption.” Therefore, those vendors operating dog slaughterhouses are operating outside of the parameters of the law. (Penalty: imprisonment with labor for not more than 10 years or a fine not exceeding 100 million won per Article 45 of the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act.)

The slaughter of dogs for consumption violates the Animal Protection Act, Article 10. The Act intends to ensure that no animal is slaughtered in a cruel or revolting manner and shall be free from unnecessary pain, fear, or stress during slaughter. Therefore, the only humane way of killing dogs would be by euthanasia (lethal injection). All currently practiced methods of slaughter by butchers, farmers, and traders exclude euthanasia as a method of slaughter. Therefore, they are all in breach of this Act. This also violates the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act Article 7 Section 1 Clause 2. According to the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, the slaughter of animals for their consumption is allowed only for livestock animals publicly announced as livestock classification in the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act, and dogs are not classified here.

Distribution & Sale:

The display and sale of dog carcasses in traditional outdoor markets violate the Food Sanitation Act, Article 4, 5. It violates laws banning the sale of harmful food due to the contamination from the unsanitary and illegal animal slaughter and display of the dog carcass. For example, dog carcasses are routinely contaminated by microorganisms that cause human diseases and food poisoning, leading to severe and life-threatening health complications. There are also strict laws that ban the sale of meat from sick animals. These laws are likely routinely violated because there is no quality control or proper monitoring of slaughter practices in the dog meat trade.

Dog meat restaurants’ sale of dog meat soup made with dog carcasses from an unknown source violates the Food Sanitation Act Article 44 Section 1 Clause 1. Uninspected livestock products must not be transported, stored, displayed, sold, or used to manufacture or process food for human consumption.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety must crack down on and punish businesses that sell dog carcasses and that process, cook, and sell products that use dog carcasses as raw materials.

Please refer to the legal information regarding dog meat consumption in South Korea published by the Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA): https://www.ekara.org/activity/against/read/7537, https://koreandogs.org/kara-publishes-legal-information-booklet-ending-dog-meat-consumption/

The United States House of Representatives has formally passed H.Res. 401, "Calls for an end to the dog and cat meat industry and urges all nations to outlaw the dog and cat meat trade." (https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-resolution/401)

These demands align with Sister Province's goal of establishing friendly communications in tourism, commerce, cultural exchange, and public health.

International and Korean media coverage of the brutal dog and cat meat trade in South Korea has stained Gyeonggi Province, South Korea's image, and severely tarnished your state's Sister-State relationship. The time to end this tragedy is now. The favor of your reply is requested.

Thank you for taking swift action!