Bosintang (dog meat soup) restaurants in Jongno District, central Seoul, are seen on Aug. 14.YONHAP
With just about six months to go before the dog meat ban takes full effect next February, people in the bosintang (dog meat soup) industry who have made their livelihoods from the business for decades have launched a wave of lawsuits against regional governments.
At least 14 restaurant owners who have handled dog meat in Daejeon have filed administrative lawsuits with the Daejeon District Court against the heads of their respective district offices. They seek to overturn decisions denying them compensation for business losses, according to legal sources and regional governments in Daejeon Thursday.
The plaintiffs in Daejeon have reportedly retained a major law firm headquartered in Seoul to represent them, which has raised the possibility that the dispute could develop into a large-scale legal battle nationwide.
This follows as the three-year grace period under the special law enacted in February 2024 ends on Feb. 7, 2027. From that date, raising and slaughtering dogs for human consumption, as well as distributing and selling dog meat, will be completely prohibited, with violations subject to severe criminal penalties.
The lawsuits have been filed simultaneously across the city. Six business owners in Daedeok District filed complaints on July 24, while four owners in Yuseong District, three in Dong District and one in Jung District have also filed lawsuits — in that the cases have been brought in four of Daejeon's five districts. The cases have been assigned to the Daejeon District Court's first and second administrative divisions.
At the heart of the dispute are the amount and nature of the compensation. Under the government's basic plan to end dog meat consumption, the central and regional governments currently offer up to 4 million won ($2,870) in closure assistance for expenses such as dismantling stores and restoring premises, or up to 2.5 million won in assistance for businesses that switch to other types of food.
A bosintang (dog meat soup) restaurant in Seoul on Aug. 7, 2024YONHAP
The business owners, however, strongly oppose the one-time assistance and argue that the amounts fall far short of what is needed when they are being forced to abandon livelihoods they have built over decades.
They claim that because government policy is effectively forcing them to relinquish their right to operate, they should receive separately calculated, legally justified compensation for business losses in addition to assistance with dismantling costs.
Regional governments, however, have firmly rejected the demands for additional compensation, which has left the two sides at an impasse. The relevant departments maintain that no provision in the special law explicitly requires separate compensation for business losses and cited that they cannot spend taxpayer money at their discretion.
The end of dog meat consumption is being implemented under a law enacted for a public purpose following a longstanding social consensus, a regional government official said, adding that it would be difficult to accept spending additional taxpayer money beyond the prescribed rules and standards.
Some in the legal community have also suggested that because the dog meat industry previously did not operate within a clearly defined framework of legal permits and approvals, it may be difficult to directly apply the legal principles governing compensation for infringement of business rights that are typically used in public works projects.
The conflict between the growing emphasis on animal rights and the protection of small business owners' livelihoods is ultimately expected to be settled in court, as Daejeon's district governments have also said they plan to retain legal counsel and actively respond to the lawsuits.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
