The Whale Embassy in Ulsan,
South Korea.
28/06/2005 — After 77 days of peaceful protest,
our Whale Embassy has moved from the site
of a proposed whale meat factory in Ulsan
to Seoul. Although our activists are leaving
Korea after the international whaling meeting,
we will still be keeping an eye on the Ulsan
site. We left a huge black whale tail on the
site, reading "Korea - country of whale
conservation?".
Recent reports in the Korean national press
claimed that the South Korean Government had
scrapped plans to build the whale meat factory;
however Ulsan City Council recently made statements
refuting this, claiming that the factory will
be going ahead.
If the South Korean Government goes ahead
with building the factory, we will tell this
story to the world and will do everything
that we can to stop this internationally condemned
plan. The Whale Embassy will now be run by
our partners, the Korean Federation for Environment
Movement (KFEM) in Seoul.
The South Korean Government makes huge claims
about wanting to protect their remaining whales,
yet do nothing about the trade in whale meat.
KFEM's director Choi Ye-yong said, "How
can you reduce bycatch by building a factory
to process the carcasses? It is as ridiculous
as building a factory to process the tusks
of 'accidentally' caught elephants, then paying
the people who 'accidentally' caught them."
DNA research has recently found that there
are significantly more whales being found
in the marketplace than could be accounted
for by the "accidental" bycatch.
During the period from June 19 to June 23
alone, five juvenile minke whales were caught
"accidentally" off the coast of
Korea - right in time for Ulsan's whale festival.
On April 7, the Whale Embassy was built to
highlight the threats facing Korea's few remaining
whales. Since then tens of thousands of people
have lent their support to the campaign and
the activists from 20 countries that staffed
the embassy over the 77 days of peaceful protest,
highlighted by over 50,000 people participating
in our Virtual March held during the International
Whaling Commission meeting.
