Protesters confront fur trade in Seoul

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 2011:
SEOUL–Fur will be exhibited after all at a June 2, 2011
show by the Italian fashion house Fendi on a new artificial “floating
island” in the Han River in downtown Seoul. But there will be less
fur, city officials said on May 23, after announcing on May 16 that
fur would be banned to avoid confrontation with protesters organized
by the local group Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth.
Fendi “originally planned to present 20 fur items,” reported
Agence France-Presse. “A Seoul city official said Fendi pledged to
‘redesign’ the lineup to reduce the number of fur items displayed.”
In response, Coexist-ence of Animal Rights on Earth “called for
protesters to picket the show,” AFP added.

The site of the Fendi fur show is just across the Han from
the Moran live market, the largest in the nation, a longtime
source of dog and cat fur used to trim garments, and historically a
difficult venue for activism.
As recently as 2005 the only hints of anti-fur protest in
Seoul were occasional brief demonstrations by PETA representatives
visiting from other nations. South Korea counted the fur trade as a
growth industry, led by the Seoul-based Jindo global retail fur
empire. South Korean retail fur sales reportedly peaked at about
$400 million per year, about 25% of the U.S. volume in a nation with
16% of the U.S. human population.
Vegan.com speculated that “the live burial of pigs and cattle
has galvanized the country’s animal protection community and given
them substantial political clout.”
South Korea culled more than 3.47 million cows, pigs and
other animals in 2010-2011 to combat hoof-and-mouth disease.