"The 'Whale Embassy' and our personal safety have been
threatened byviolence all so that they can prepare for an oceans'
day ceremony onthis very site, but how can the Government seriously
considercelebrating the oceans on the site of a proposed whale meat
factory? Itwould be funny, if the consequences for the whales were
not soserious," said Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner,
Jim Wickens.
Greenpeaceand KFEM say that building a whale meat factory will
hasten the declineof Korea's few remaining whales, by
industrialising the trade in whalemeat, a trade which scientists
predict will push Korea's whales toextinction. In Korea, whales can
be brought ashore and sold for meatonly if they are accidentally
caught. However Korea has accidentalbycatch rates up to a hundred
times higher than nations that do nothave a whale meat trade
(3).
"It does not take a genius tosee that in a country where dead
whales are worth up to $100000, thatthis industry will encourage
the deliberate targeting and illegalhunting of Korea's disappearing
whales", said Wickens. "It is a bitlike building an ivory factory
in Kenya for elephants that haveaccidentally died."
This threat comes as the whalingdebate within Korea reaches new
heights, only weeks before Ulsan playshost to the 57th IWC meeting
in June. Greenpeace state that theGovernment is sending out clear
signals that they intend to follow theJapanese Government's tactics
of resuming scientific whaling under theexcuse of fatal scientific
research. This claim is backed up by theKorean Government's agreed
plans for a dolphin cull of several hundreddolphins over the next
few years.
Contrary to the claimsof environmentalists, the government
defines the factory as a 'checkpoint for dealing with accidentally
caught whale carcasses in anenvironmentally-friendly and sanitary
manner'.
"It isquite clear that the only thing being sanitized here is
the truth;these whales are destined to become part of a lucrative
whale meatindustry, an industry that will lead to the extinction of
Korea's minkewhales within our lifetime," said Yeyong, Choi, from
KFEM.
Other contacts: Jim Wickens: Greenpeace International Oceans Campaigner +82 102 233 0760Mhairi Dunlop: Greenpeace International Media Officer +31 646 162 026Yeyong, Choi: KFEM Director +82 164 587 488
VVPR info: For further information on the KFEM and Greenpeace campaign to protect whales, see: www.comebackwhales.com/news/
Notes: (1) A copy of the letter can be found on www.greenpeace.org (2) Countries represented at the embassy include Spain, Germany, UK, USA, Brazil, Austria, Columbia, Slovakia, Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the Czech Republic and Italy. (3) In 2003 alone, Korea "accidentally" caught in excess of 84 whales, compared to less than five per year in non-whaling nations.