From the law’s publication in the official gazette on 6 February 2024, establishing new dog farms, slaughterhouses, distribution businesses, or restaurants handling dog meat has been prohibited. Existing operators were required to report their businesses to local government within three months of publication and to submit a closure or transition plan within six months. Administrative fines of up to 3 million KRW for non-compliance with these registration and closure-planning requirements, or for establishing new facilities, took effect immediately upon publication.

Criminal penalties for breeding, slaughtering, distributing, or selling dogs for food, of up to three years’ imprisonment or a 30 million KRW fine for slaughter and up to two years or 20 million KRW for breeding and distribution, are scheduled to take effect three years after promulgation. Government data released by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs recorded 1,204 of 1,537 registered dog meat farms as having ceased operations as of 21 December 2025. Data on the number of dog meat restaurants closed to date is not available in current sourcing.

Anticipated Effects

If the Act’s criminal penalty provisions take effect as scheduled in February 2027 and enforcement continues at the pace documented through 2025, remaining registered dog farms, slaughter operations, distributors, and restaurants would be expected to close or complete transition, removing the legal basis for commercial dog meat supply chains in South Korea.

Government and NGO transition programs anticipate redirection of some dogs from meat farms into companion-animal rehoming or alternative livelihood channels for farmers, though available sources do not yet document redirection outcomes at national scale, and this remains a conditional expectation pending full implementation.

Significance Rationale

Assigned Reduces Exploitation based on documented closure of approximately 78% of registered dog meat farms (1,204 of 1,537) by 21 December 2025, a measurable contraction in the number of operating facilities ahead of the law’s full penal enforcement date.

Assigned Changes Scale as the primary mechanism, since the Act’s combination of prohibitions on new facilities, mandatory registration and closure planning, and scheduled criminal penalties operates by reducing the number of facilities and animals within the dog meat production and trade system; the ban also alters what is legally permitted for this sector, but Changes Scale reflects the documented outcome to date.

Assigned High significance because the Act targets the entire national dog meat industry, from breeding through slaughter, distribution, and retail, and government data shows the substantial majority of registered facilities already closed well before the 2027 penal deadline. The scale change is structural within its scope: the Act removes the legal basis for commercial dog meat breeding, slaughter, distribution, and sale nationwide, with no documented resumption of the sector as of the most recent reporting.