A dog looks out from a cage at a dog farm during a rescue event (Picture: AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je/Getty Images)

South Korean restaurants have refused to stop selling dog meat for the duration of the Winter Olympics despite the practice receiving widespread condemnation.

Nearly all restaurants which serve dog meat in Pyeongchang – where the opening ceremony is being held today – have ignored a government order to stop serving the controversial food during the Games.

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Only two out of a total of 12 dog meat restuarants have complied with the order offering subsidies in exchange for stopping the practice, according to officials.

Pyeongchang County government official Lee Yong-bae told the media that restaurants complained the ban was threatening their livelihood.


‘Some of them initially shifted to selling pork or things instead of dog meat only to find their sales plunging sharply. They then switched back to dog meat,’ he said.

Park Young-ae, 60, owner of Young Hoon Restaurant, arranges dog meats at her restaurant in Pyeongchang (Picture: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

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Around one million dogs are eaten each year in South Korea (Picture: Jung Ha-Won/AFP/Getty Images)

According to the Mail Online, around one million dogs each year are eaten as a ‘summertime delicacy’, with the meat believed to increase energy and health.



Dog meat is advertised as boshintang (health-boosting soup), yeongyangtang (nutrient soup) or sacheoltang (year-round soup), but these signs have been replaced by more neutral ones such as yeomsotang (goat soup) to avoid giving ‘a bad impression to foreigners’ during the Games, Lee Yong-bae added.

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The meat is officially classed as ‘detestable’ in South Korea, and while the designation has no legal binding the tradition is now taboo among the younger generation who see the animals as pets and not livestock.

Activists have launched online petitions, protests and campaigns to ban the practice, while urging boycotts during the Olympics.

Authorities have previously tried to persuade restaurants to drop signs suggesting dog meat consumption or change their menus during major events.

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