KAPS anti-dog meat campaign

[Karen]

A message from Sunnan Keum, director of the Korean Animal Protection Society:

Dear friends for suffering animals,

I am initiating another large-scale anti-dog meat campaign because the Korean government once again have clearly shown their intention to legalize of dog meat again in April 2008. Please visit KAPS English website (www.koreananimals.net (http://www.koreananimals.net/)) and help KAPS in protesting against our government.

Seoul Mayor, Oh Se Hun is the one who openly proposed a policy to classify dog meat as livestock products - nothing short of legalising dog meat -, so we are sending petition letters to him first. You can find an article I wrote Seoul Mayor in our website.
It will be very helpful for you in understanding on dog meat issue if you read the article.

Korean Government does not pay attention to opinion of Koreans but give more weight to the protests from overseas.

I am trying to give this matter as wide publicity as possible all over the world as well as within our country.
Please help KAPS in this fighting.

Love and Peace
Sunnan Kum of KAPS in Korea.



At the KAPS English website (http://koreananimals.or.kr/english/) you can sign the petition against the legalization of dog meat, view the 2008 campaign leaflet (contact KAPS directly to see they need help with distribution), see lots of great photos of the rescued animals now living at the KAPS shelters in Daegu and Boeun, and make a donation to KAPS online.

Please spread the word about KAPS' efforts to end cruelty to dogs and cats.

Thanks for helping.

[luvadog]

Hi Karen,

I have written KAPS twice to ask about getting the flyers to distribute but haven't gotten a reply yet. Has anyone else gotten any? Also, does anyone know if it's legal for me to do that given that I'm on an E-2 visa and it may change to a visitors' visa soon. There is something I've seen in print somewhere that prohibits you from doing anything else in Korea, including volunteering. I'll do it anyway, but with a touchy issue like this, I'm wondering if I should do it cautiously instead of greeting people with a flyer as they enter the dog meat restaurant. I had been in contact with one group who got kicked out of Korea for being too pushy.

Thanks,
Sandy

[Karen]

Hi Sandy,

KAPS is always busy and it often takes a while to receive a response to less urgent questions. I don't think they have the means to post stacks to flyers out. You might be able to download it & get copies made yourself, but I would ask permission first.

As for handing out flyers on your own, I was actually thinking more along the lines of handing them out to friends and colleagues when I mentioned distribution, above. There are many foreigners who try dog meat as part of their "cultural experience" living abroad and may not know the details of the industry. Sorry, my post above wasn't clear.

I don't think it's a good idea for foreigners to handout flyers on the street or protest outside of restaurants. I would guess most people don't have the Korean language skills to be able to discuss the issue fluently and, as you mentioned, I'm not sure how it would affect visa-status to get involved in such a controversial activity.