The Government of South Korea, South Korean delegate Park Jeong-Seok announced at the 64th annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Panama, that the country is going to launch a scientific whaling programme in the North West Pacific. There are several different stocks, or groups, of minke whales in the region, and one of the them, the so-called J-stock, is severely depleted.

38 000 whales have been inhumanely slaughtered by Japan, Norway, and Iceland since the whaling ban was placed in 1986. We, the undersigned, strongly urge the Government of South Korea NOT to join this list of countries. Instead we urge South Korea to withdraw it's proposal, as we believe Your country will benefit much more from the development of Whale Watching tourism, along with the breathtakingly beautiful nature in South Korea. This non-lethal use of whales would bring financial gain a thousand fold more that killing the minke whales of the North West Pacific, for decades in the future, along with an international approval and gratitude worldwide.