SEOUL: South Korean officials on Thursday began to dismantle the country’s largest canine slaughterhouse complex, as animal rights activists push to end the custom of eating dog meat.
About one million dogs are eaten a year in South Korea, often as a summertime delicacy with the greasy red meat — invariably boiled for tenderness — believed to increase energy.
But the tradition has earned criticism abroad and has declined as the nation increasingly embraces the idea of dogs as pets instead of livestock, with eating them now something of a taboo among young South Koreans.
The Taepyeong-dong complex in Seongnam city, south of Seoul, housed at least six dog slaughterhouses that could hold several hundred animals at a time, and was a major source of meat for dog meat restaurants across the country.
It will be cleared over two days and transformed into a public park, Seongnam city officials said.
Animal rights campaigners slammed its operators for mistreating dogs and killing them cruelly — including electrocuting them before butchering them in the sight of other caged dogs.
Activists found electrocution equipment in the complex and a pile of dead dogs abandoned on the floor when they visited the site on Thursday, according to US animal rights group Humane Society International.
“This is a historic moment,” Korean Animal Rights Advocates said in a blog post. “It will open the door for more closures of dog meat slaughterhouses across the country, expediting the decline of the overall dog meat industry.”
According to a survey last year 70 percent of South Koreans do not eat dogs, but far fewer — about 40 percent — believe the practice should be banned. It also found 65 percent support raising and slaughtering dogs in more humane conditions.
There are currently no laws on how to treat or slaughter canines for meat in South Korea. While farmers have urged Seoul to include dogs under livestock welfare regulations, animal rights groups oppose doing so, seeking complete abolition instead.
South Korea closes biggest dog slaughterhouse complex
South Korea closes biggest dog slaughterhouse complex
In rare overlap, Chinese Muslims observe Ramadan with Lunar New Year
- Lunar New Year started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks
- Chinese Indonesians make up about 3 percent of the Indonesian population
JAKARTA: Every year, on the first day of Lunar New Year, Febriani visits relatives and gathers for a feast with her Chinese Muslim family, part of a long-standing tradition honoring their ethnic heritage.
But this year, as Thursday marks the beginning of Ramadan, she is celebrating two important occasions within the same week, in a rare overlap that last took place in 1995.
“I’m very happy and grateful that Lunar New Year and Ramadan are celebrated so closely. I observe both every year, so it’s truly special,” she told Arab News.
Widely observed across Asia, the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year festival is believed to date back to the 14th century B.C., to the times of the Shang Dynasty, China’s earliest ruling dynasty, when people celebrated good harvests.
In 2026, it started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks. For many, celebrations typically involve elaborate feasts, giving children pocket money in red envelopes, and watching dragon dance parades.
In Indonesia, Chinese-descent citizens make up an estimated 3 percent of the country’s Muslim-majority population of more than 280 million. While most are either Buddhists or Christians, a small minority professes Islam.
For 25-year-old Febriani, both Lunar New Year and Ramadan are equally meaningful.
“The two celebrations teach us to strengthen bonds, to share with one another, and to become closer to family,” she said.
“They are both important to me because they happen only once every year and they’re always an occasion to gather with the extended family. It is also a chance to self-reflect and strengthen relationships with your loved ones.”
For Naga Kunadi, whose family lives in Central Java’s Cepu district, Chinese New Year is all about embracing his ethnic identity.
Earlier in the week, his family was busy preparing for the new year’s feast, which was a fusion of Chinese and Indonesian dishes, such as claypot tofu, meatball soup and shumai, or steamed dumplings.
“To celebrate Chinese New Year, we prepared halal Chinese food at home. It’s also a way to introduce to my children the traditions from our Chinese side, but there’s a bit of a fusion because my wife is Javanese,” Kunadi told Arab News.
Kunadi, an Islamic teacher at the Lautze Mosque in Jakarta, sees both Chinese New Year and Ramadan as opportunities to teach important life values for his two children.
Upholding Chinese New Year traditions with his family is for him a way of preserving his ethnic heritage.
“We want to preserve cultural values as long as it does not clash with our religion,” he said.
“If we leave our culture behind, we might lose our identity, so this is something I want to teach my children.”
The fasting month of Ramadan, on the other hand, gives him a chance to teach and practice honesty.
“I want to focus on the religious and moral aspects during the holy month of Ramadan, when we practice honesty on a personal level,” Kunadi said.
“There’s always an opportunity to eat or snack in secret without anybody knowing, but we train ourselves not to do that. For me, Ramadan is a time for everyone to put honesty into practice, including myself and my children.”
