I was in S. Korea with the U.S. Army Reserve back in '00 and one of the last nights we were there, we went off base to this local restaurant that was basically some Korean family’s living room and they cooked food in their private kitchen. We ordered one of everything, and one of the dishes was dog (gaegogi), which had already been slaughtered, so it wasn’t like we ordered it and they had to kill it for us. Does that make it any more moral or humane on our part? No, not at all. But it was a cultural dish, and we were there for the cultural experience. I remember hearing the same as you though, that there was some cultural belief that if the dog suffered before it died, the meat tasted better (something about the adrenaline running through it’s muscles or something like that, I dunno), so they would tie the dog up by its hide legs and sear the fur off it with a blow torch while it was still alive. That’s what we heard, anyway. Was it true? I dunno.

While I of course don’t agree with the inhumane treatment, if their culture is to eat dog, then it is. We eat beef in the U.S. and that’s horrific to Hindus, who believe cows are sacred. We don’t exactly treat beef cattle very well before we slaughter them either, for that matter. I think where eating meat is concerned, you’re either all-in or all-out. You can’t bash one culture for their cuisine and not take a deep look at your own as well and realize that they are all fucked up in their own way.