"Who cares? Even policemen love eating bo-sin-tang [dog meat soup]," Kim, 54, said with a big grin outside her small shop, which carries no signs advertising her wares. "With the economy slumping as a whole, business is not as usual. But I trust my loyal bo-sin-tang eaters," she said. "As long as they are there, I have no worry."
The Korean habit of eating dog meat has once again become the talk of the town after a court ruled this week that dog meat was "edible food."
The ruling does not make selling dog meat legal, but it opens the way for legal challenges to a government decree that classifies dog meat as one of several "unsightly foods" deemed illegal. Others in that category include snakes and any endangered species.
A Seoul appeals court overruled a lower court which had found a 35-year-old man guilty of selling dog meat and fined him $3,700. The appeals court suspended the sentence, ruling that dog meat is "edible food" because it is widely eaten by Koreans.
There was no official government response to the court ruling, but authorities are unlikely to lift the ban. "The government has many other things to consider," said Park Jong-sung, an official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Concerned about its international image, South Korea banned the sale and consumption of dog meat during the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. The ban was not strictly enforced after the Olympics.
In South Korea, dog meat is considered a delicacy that can enhance health and sexual prowess, a belief not supported by scientific evidence. In the back alleys of Seoul and other cities, there are many specialty shops selling dog meat -- euphemistically called "tonic soups" or "bow-wow soups."
Dealers say the butchered dogs are unwanted animals gathered from farms throughout the country. Some are said to be raised specifically for their meat. But critics contend that many are stolen pets.
Unconfirmed reports say the number of Koreans eating dog meat is increasing, but they still represent a fraction of the country's 44 million people.
Dog meat has traditionally been considered men's food, but these days, more and more women enjoy it. Patients are often encouraged by traditional herbal doctors to eat dog meat for a quick recovery from surgery or long illness.
Dog meat is served mostly in soups or barbecues. It sells for about the same as beef -- $20 per kilogram. But a bowl of dog meat soup costs $10 -- twice that of a bowl of beef soup.
The Korean practice of eating dogs has often become a target of international criticism. International animal rights activists are threatening to boycott South Korean goods unless South Korea bans dog meat sales during the 2002 soccer World Cup to be jointly hosted by South Korea and Japan.
But South Koreans don't seem to give in to such pressure.
"An eating habit is cultural and indigenous, and no one should meddle in it," Yun Jai-hyung, a Seoul journalist, said of the international pressure.
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