Opponents of whale factory
stand their ground
11/05/2005 — The city of Ulsan, Korea has
ordered us to vacate our "Whale Embassy"
-- built near the site of a planned whale
meat factory.
We've told them we'll be happy to leave, once
they assure us they will not build the factory.
In early April, we uncovered plans by the
Korean government to build a whale meat factory
in Ulsan. The discovery added to growing evidence
that Korea wants to reopen commercial whaling.
We established our Whale Embassy to open
a dialogue with local people about the government's
plans, to explain just how many people around
the world oppose whaling, to call for a cancellation
of plans to build the factory, along with
assurances that Korea will not bow to pressure
from Japan to resume commercial whaling.
We've had visitors and volunteers from the
local community, the New Zealand Ambassador
stopped by, and a great deal of local press
attention.
City officials embarrassed
But City officials are not at all happy with
us tarnishing their reputation as the "City
of whales" with our suggestion that Ulsan
is actually heading toward becoming the "City
of whaling." Our eviction notice stated
they want us to leave because they claim we
are in the way of the proposed Oceans Day
ceremony on May 31st.
They have given us until Monday, May 16th
to get off the site.
Stifling criticism
Whale campaigner Jim Wickens says: "It
is quite clear that they want to stifle any
criticism of their plans to build the factory.
Today they showed us plans of the Oceans Day
ceremony being planned, and on the entire
15,000 square-metre site, they don’t have
any room for our little embassy. We have told
them that any attempts to evict us forcibly
will reflect very badly on their international
image."
There have already been several attempts
at intimidation, official and unofficial.
According to Wickens: "Last night at
four in the morning four local fishermen turned
up looking for trouble, luckily there were
others awake to come and help.
We have been tipped off that in Korea in sensitive
political protests, thugs are often allowed
to do the dirty work. There is a possibility
that this may take the form of fake fishermen
coming to beat us up."
"Hygienic" butchering of "accidental"
whale meat
They say that the whale meat factory will
merely be a sanitary measure -- a way to hygienically
butcher the whales which are "accidentally"
killed by becoming entangled in nets, and
those which might be killed in a possible
programme of "scientific whaling."
respond to our observation that Korea and
Japan individually in 2003 caught more whales
by accident than all the fishing fleets in
the world combined reported.
Nor did they comment on the stories that
local people have told us about some methods
fisherman use to "accidentally"
catch whales: ramming them with the ship to
cause massive internal injuries.
A juvenile minke whale caught "accidentally"
by a fishing vessel is butchered in Ulsan,
Korea. The meat was then sold for US$30,000.
Korea reports an unusually high number of
"accidentally" killed whales each
year which are legally sold for meat.
With our own eyes
We witnessed the butchering of a juvenile
minke whale which was "accidentally"
caught. The whale meat was packaged up for
sale at a value of US$30,000.
At prices like that, you can well imagine
why a city official might want to build a
whale butchering factory.
The man who can stop the whale meat factory
is Ulsan mayor, Mr. Park Maeng-woo.
Local businessmen, such as the deputy vice
president of Hyundai, have been vocal supporters
of the whale meat factory, apparently unaware
of the brand damage which other multinational
corporations have suffered when they've been
exposed as having a close association to whaling.
Korea hosts the International Whaling Commission
meeting this year in June. The meeting that
could open the doors to a return to commercial
whaling, which has been banned since 1985.
Tell the mayor to stop the whale factory
We're trying to warn Mr. Park Maeng-woo just
how passionate people around the world are
about saving whales -- how much his town's
reputation, the reputation of Hyundai corporation,
and the reputation of his country are at stake.
