South Korea’s dog meat industry disappears ahead of ban

Rusted cages and electric prods sat abandoned at a slaughter site in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, before South Korea’s dog meat ban takes full effect in February 2027.

South Korea’s National Assembly passed the law on January 9, 2024, and the official gazette published it on February 6, 2024. It bans breeding, butchering, distributing and selling dogs for meat, and violators can face prison terms of up to three years once full enforcement begins after the three-year grace period.

The government estimated in 2022 that more than 520,000 dogs were being raised for meat on more than 1,100 farms. By 2026, the agriculture ministry put the figure at about 20,000 remaining on farms. In June 2025, the ministry put the number of closed dog farms at 623 of 1,537, about 40 percent. By August 2025, Yonhap counted 1,072 closed farms, or 70 percent, and found those shuttered operations had raised 346,000 dogs, about 74 percent of the 468,000 dogs then still being raised for meat.

To push farmers out of the business, the government offered compensation ranging from 225,000 won to 600,000 won per dog, depending on how early owners closed. Farmers had demanded 2 million won per dog. Officials also offered consultations, closure guidance and subsidies to help farmers switch livelihoods.

The government has not tracked the dogs after the farms emptied. A ministry inspector said, “We are not involved in what was done with the dogs,” leaving animal welfare groups to piece together the aftermath. Kim Young-hwan said there had been no visible adoption campaign for the farmed dogs and that if large numbers had entered rescue programs, groups such as CARE would have known.

Humane World for Animals placed 16 dogs rescued from a farm in Cheongju in 2025 on a flight to Canada for adoption, while only about two dozen dogs had been adopted domestically, in part because many South Koreans prefer small breeds better suited to apartment life. Former farmer Ju Yeong-bong said the animals had probably “already been eaten.”