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Welcome to the official site of International Aid for Korean Animals.
UPDATE (5/20/09): Our Spring 2009 Newsletter is now available for download! Check it out at our materials page!
Welcome to the official website for International Aid for Korean Animals (IAKA). IAKA is a non-profit organization founded by Kyenan Kum in 1997 to promote animal protection and humane education in Korea. Since its inception Kyenan has worked tirelessly, campaigning worldwide to educate the international community about the difficult conditions for dogs and cats in Korea. A major victory for IAKA came in 2007 with the revision and strengthening of Korea’s 1991 Animal Protection law, which IAKA had long campaigned and petitioned to improve.
KAPES was founded in late 2007 by Kyenan Kum and Haesun Park as a response to the newly strengthened Animal Protection law. The two activists realized that with stronger legal protections in place, direct protest of the government and of the meat trade would be less productive than eliminating the demand for dog and cat meat altogether, through hands-on education. The construction of a new Adoption and Education Center in Seoul, capital city of South Korea, is the first step towards teaching young Koreans about the humane treatment of animals and instilling them with a deep compassion for dogs and cats. With the new Animal Protection law in place, IAKA/KAPES seeks to work in partnership with the government to successfully affect positive change in Korean society. The time is finally right to eliminate the plight of Korea’s dogs and cats.
- IAKA US - We are registered as 501(c)3 status organization # 94-3255699 in the U.S. More information.
- IAKA UK - We are registered as charity # 1115187 in the U.K. More information.
- KAPES - We are registered as a foundation in South Korea. More information.
Branching Out Across Korea
IAKA and KAPES extend their message throughout the peninsula
In the back alleys of Seoul, you might come across some of the world’s largest dog-meat markets, home to horrible cruelty and unsanitary conditions. Stray dogs and cats are endemic to the city, and those that are kept as pets are sometimes mistreated and left without proper care. However, in rural Korea, things can be just as bad. Dog farms in the country are completely unregulated. Feral cat populations are inhumanely exterminated. Most heartbreaking of all is the fact that private shelters that are set up by concerned Koreans are often in terrible condition, with far too many animals and far too few resources. What can be done?
Though our work with dogs and cats in Korea is currently based in Seoul, capital city of Korea and one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the world, our plans for the companion animals of the country are broad-ranging. In this newsletter you will find detailed our ongoing projects for animals outside of Seoul, such as our renovation and support project for our shelter in Daejeon, a city in Chungcheongnamdo Province. It is our long-term goal to link such shelters with our Adoption and Education Center in Seoul, where Seoul citizens can adopt animals rescued both from the local dog markets as well as from shelters outside of Seoul. Making these connections will foster a more positive attitude towards pet ownership, and will eventually drive down demand for dog consumption.
The hard work of our Seoul-based organization, KAPES, and its tireless director, Ms. Haesun Park (the recent recipient of a Ministry of Agriculture award for animal protection, see page 4), continues. KAPES has recently been tapped to draw up a humane solution to a feral cat problem on Geomun-do, an island off the southeast coast of Korea, and Ms. Park’s proposal, if approved by the government, will be the first of its kind in Korea. IAKA and KAPES are strong proponents of TNR (Trap, Spay/Neuter, Release) programs as alternatives to extermination, and we believe that this is the only humane, sustainable solution for the Geomun-do Islands.
These are exciting times for us, but IAKA and KAPES need your support now more than ever. With your help, we have already accomplished so much for animals in Korea, but we have a long way to go. With projects like our TNR program on Geomun-do, our future Adoption and Education Center, and assisting with animal rescue at a new shelter in Daejeon (see page 3), we hope to continue to make life better for dogs and cats far into the future.
I wish you a healthy, happy spring and summer!
Sincerely,
Kyenan Kum
IAKA & KAPES Founder