Consumption of dog meat is a part of traditional Korean cuisine and medicine. Dog meat dishes that are usually consumed called bosintang or dog meat soup and on traditional medicines called gaeju or gaesoju. Dog meat is believed to increase the energy lost due to hot weather and sexual stamina. Rooted from the history, the first dog meat dishes is consumed because of the famine due to the poverty. At least around 2 million dogs are slaughtered per year in South Korea, or with an estimated 1.4 kg per person.

Consumption of dog meat in South Korea become controversial since the Summer Olympics and the 1988 World Cup 2002. The South Korean government banned the sale of dog meat before the 1988 Olympics due to the pressure of animal activists and the international community. But that rule was not strongly emphasized. The online petition protesting on the consumption and torturing to dogs had collected thousands of signatures in South Korea.