South Korean activist sentenced

SEOUL--Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth founder So-Youn Park was on August 30,  2012 sentenced to serve a year on probation for “special larceny,”  an offense in South Korean law similar to violation of the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act in the U.S.Park,  said a CARE prepared statement, “witnessed five dogs and eight chickens miserably abandoned while walking by a farm.  She visited the farm three times with other CARE animal rights activists, but they could not find any trace of food or the owner.  They rescued the dogs and chickens from the cages on November 26, 2011.  Days later, upon discovering the dogs and chickens were gone, the owner of the farm called the police.  The farm owner admitted that the dogs were raised for slaughter and that the environment in which they were kept was inadequate,” CARE said, but this was not illegal and had no bearing on the charge against Park.

If Park performs any similar rescue within a year, she will be jailed for six months, said Moon-bears.org founder Gina Moon. “If she is found guilty of any similar pending cases,” Moon added, “the prison sentence will be extended.”

The verdict came after crackdowns by seven different agencies of the Seongnam city government on conditions at the Moran Market, the largest dog meat sales venue in South Korea, located just across a river from the national capital in Seoul.  Coinciding with the traditional peak weeks for dog-eating, the crackdowns began on July 5, 2012.  “While there are no legal provision to ban dog slaughter and sale, we can no longer sit idle and watch the city’s image being tarnished,” said a Seongnam mayoral spokesperson.  The city moved to enforce regulations pertaining to noise, odor, pollution, and waste disposal, and ordered that dog cages–which form most of the dog meat market–be removed from the street and sidewalks.  This would almost eliminate public display of dogs awaiting slaughter.