A dog is being hanged by Korean men. They beat the dog into releasing droppings in a way to tenderize the dog meat.

Seoul City Administration recently decided to put dogs into the category of livestock. And for that it said it would recommend it to the central govermnent for the official approval, a local daily Chosun Ilbo reported on March 24, 2008.

The move was designed to take care of dog meat in a hygenic way in slaughtering and processing the meat of "human's best friends."

A Seoul city official was quoted as sayig "there are 528 dog meat restaurants in Seoul alone, and the number of dog meat restaurants increases to 600 on Dog Days during the summer."

He said that there is a strong need for classfing dog meat into the livestock category in order to protect citizens' health.

Currently, Livestock Processing Law stipulates that only 13 species of cow, horse, lamb (or goat), pig, chicken, duck, deer, rabbit, turkey, goose, quail, pheasant, and donkey.

Restaurants dealing with the meat of those 13 species are subject to regular hygenic inspections from the local government.

But, dog meat restaurants are not required to undergo any inspections.

Seoul City will hold several public hearings to hear the opinion of the citizens regarding the issue, according to the official.

The Seoul City's decision is likely to incur strong protests from both local and international animal rights activists.

He said that dogs are hung live and beaten to death while on fire in some cases.

So, he said the the city would try to persuade animal rights activists with the argument that the new classification would be beneficial to the rights of the dog.

Dog meat is the fourth most popular meat in South Korea. The top three are pork, beef, and chicken.