Originally published 2018-03-11.
During the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, American freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy visited a South Korean dog meat farm with the charity Humane Society International (HSI), which had persuaded the farmer to close it. The farm's 90 dogs were to be flown to the United States and Canada for adoption, and Kenworthy and his then-partner, actor Matt Wilkas, adopted one puppy themselves, a small dog they named Beemo.
The story spread fast, partly because of Kenworthy's fame and partly because it touched a long-running debate about dog meat in Korea. That debate has since reached a turning point: in January 2024 South Korea's National Assembly passed a law banning the dog meat trade, with a grace period until 2027. Here is what happened on the farm, why it caused controversy, and how the issue has changed since.
What happened on the farm in 2018
Kenworthy was in Korea to compete in slopestyle, four years after winning silver in the event in Sochi. Around the end of the Games he joined HSI staff on a visit to one of the farms the charity was working to close. HSI's model is to negotiate with farmers who want to leave the trade, help them switch to another livelihood, and move the dogs abroad, where shelters and adoption partners can rehome them.
Kenworthy's Instagram posts from the farm showed rows of cramped wire cages. He wrote that he did not personally agree with eating dogs but did not see it as his role to impose Western values, while arguing that the conditions he saw were cruel. His line that culture "should never be a scapegoat for cruelty" was widely quoted.
Beemo needed vaccinations before she could travel to the United States. Sadly, her story was short: in May 2018 Kenworthy announced that she had died unexpectedly. A scan had shown a birth defect, with damaged lungs and a heart too large for her body, and he wrote that the vet had told him she had been living on borrowed time.
Not his first Olympic rescue
The Pyeongchang visit echoed what Kenworthy had done four years earlier. At the 2014 Sochi Games he and his partner at the time, Robin Macdonald, drew international attention for taking in stray puppies and helping other strays found around the Olympic venues, where stray dogs were reportedly being rounded up and culled before the event. He later came out publicly as gay in 2015, becoming one of the first openly gay athletes in action sports, and continued to use his profile for causes he cared about.
In the post above he said he hoped the visit would raise awareness of the dog meat trade and also of dogs waiting for homes in American shelters, using the hashtag #adoptdontshop.
Animal rescue sat alongside a busy competitive career. This 2016 post celebrates a Dew Tour team-challenge win with fellow skier Jossi Wells; Kenworthy later switched to compete for Great Britain, his birth country, and skied at the 2022 Games in Beijing.
Dog meat in Korea: background and law
Dog meat, gaegogi in Korean, has a long history in Korea. The best-known dish is bosintang, a spicy stew some people traditionally ate on the hottest days of summer, known as the boknal days, in the belief that it restored energy. The practice has always been divisive inside Korea itself, for reasons of animal welfare, hygiene and changing attitudes towards pets.
Gaegogi (dog meat) stew by Rhett Sutphin
The legal position was long a grey zone. South Korea adopted its first Animal Protection Law in May 1991. It banned killing animals in cruel ways and killing dogs in public, but it did not ban slaughtering dogs for food. At the same time, dogs were left out of the 1962 Livestock Processing Act, the law that sets hygiene and slaughter rules for animals such as cattle, pigs and chickens. As a result the trade was neither clearly legal nor properly regulated, and animal groups documented killing methods such as electrocution and hanging.
The debate over culture and cruelty
Kenworthy's posts drew sharp responses as well as praise. Some critics called the campaign neo-colonial, arguing that Westerners who eat pigs, cows and chickens have little standing to judge Koreans. Journalist Joon Lee pointed out that most Koreans do not eat dog at all, and that billions of chickens are killed every year with far less attention. Kenworthy replied that he did not mean to judge Koreans and simply wanted to help end abuse of dogs.
Inside Korea, opinion was divided in a different way. Some argued that the trade should be regulated like other livestock farming, so that hygiene and slaughter standards applied. Others, including many Korean animal welfare groups, campaigned for a full ban. Both sides agreed that the unregulated status quo served nobody well.
The video above shows the kind of farm conditions that brought the issue to international attention around the 2018 Games.
A fading tradition and the 2024 ban
Long before the law changed, habits were already shifting, especially among younger Koreans. A 2020 Nielsen survey found that 84% of respondents had never eaten dog meat and did not plan to, and 59% supported a ban. A 2022 government survey found 85.5% did not currently eat dog meat. The same year, officials counted about 521,000 dogs on 1,156 farms.
On 9 January 2024 the National Assembly unanimously passed a law banning the breeding, slaughter and sale of dogs for meat. It takes effect in 2027 after a three-year grace period. Raising or slaughtering dogs for food will be punishable by up to three years in prison or a fine of up to 30 million won, and selling or distributing dog meat by up to two years or 20 million won. The government promised compensation and support for farmers and restaurant owners who leave the business, and faces the large task of rehoming hundreds of thousands of dogs.
HSI's own farm closures, which began in 2015, were small in number compared with the size of the industry, around 16 farms and more than 2,000 dogs by 2020. Their main effect was to keep the issue in the public eye and to show that individual farmers were willing to change.
How to help dogs closer to home
For readers moved by stories like Beemo's, the most practical step is often local:
- Adopt or foster from a shelter or rescue group near you rather than buying from a breeder of unknown standards.
- Check a charity before donating. Look for published accounts and clear information on where rescued animals go.
- Prepare for overseas rescues. Dogs from farms can need extra veterinary care and patience while they learn to live in a home.
- Keep the conversation respectful. As the 2018 debate showed, change in Korea came largely from Koreans themselves.
Sources: Associated Press via KSAT: US Olympian warming hearts with South Korean dog adoption story; Los Angeles Blade: Gus Kenworthy mourns death of dog he rescued; Wikipedia: Gus Kenworthy; Wikipedia: Dog meat consumption in South Korea; Instagram posts by Gus Kenworthy (@guskenworthy); stew photo by Rhett Sutphin.
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