People For Earth

On Monday, July 9 at 2:00 pm, “the Live Burial of Animals – The Issues and Reality of Livestock Destruction 2018” seminar was held in the National Assembly Hall. As these days, there is a growing sense of social interest in livestock destruction, the seminar was organized to look at the reality of mass culling in various view points and to search for improvements of law and system. Along with People for Earth, Dongcheon Foundation, Pro-bono Sun, Hwa-woo Foundation, and four representatives of the House (including Jung-mi Lee of Justice Party, Hyun-kwon Kim, Chang-won Pyo, Kop-seok Song of Democratic Party) organized the seminar and Environmental Daily and Animal People by Hankyoreh sponsored it. 

The seminar, which was held with more than 100 participants attending, started with the presentations under the subjects of bioethics, animal welfare, environment, economy, and legal system followed by designated discussion and open discussion. Various opinions and discussions were exchanged between the presenters and discussion panels, including bioethics, animal welfare, environmental problems, economic costs, and problems with the legal system. The discussions were focused on realistic alternatives that could be incorporated into legal or policy amendments. This seminar was significant as it was the first attempt to discuss the comprehensive approach to livestock mass culling. 

The seminar concluded that there are sharp conflicts among stakeholders regarding the livestock destruction; more realistic alternatives or compromises through follow-up events are necessary; and collaboration with civic groups to educate understanding of livestock culling to the general public should be organized. The seminar organizing team plans on working on a more in-depth study and search for alternatives with farmers, livestock farmers and other related parties, civic groups and government officials by end of the year. They plan to hold a discussion forum to present legislative amendments on livestock destruction within this year. 

The seminar’s program booklet is available only in Korean.