Animal rights campaigners and pet-owners, however, welcomed the news yesterday.

“As someone who has witnessed the cruelty first-hand, for me it’s the suffering of the dogs that motivates me to achieve a ban”, said Nara Kim, who leads the organisation’s End Dog Meat campaign.  

“These dogs are caged in horrific conditions, with minimal food, with absolutely nothing to protect them from the extreme cold winters and overwhelmingly hot summers”, she told The Telegraph. “Often they are caged together in a small space with many dogs, which can cause fighting and cause injuries or death.  

“The industry uses an electrocution device to slaughter dogs and often dogs are still conscious after they electrocute them, which is an extremely cruel way of killing any animal”.

Ms Nara also said it is “insulting and shameful” for the rest of the world to see eating dogs as a Korean tradition, when in reality “it is an outdated habit mainly for old men who like to believe it has health properties”.

The industry is expected to fight back, with farmers, slaughterhouses and restaurants insisting that the public should have the right to choose what they want to eat and that eating dogs is no different to consuming other farmed animals.

In a separate incident in Central Java, Indonesia, this week (above), police worked with the Dog Meat Free Indonesia coalition and Humane Society International to rescue dogs destined for the meat market.

The dogs were found tied in sacks in a meat transport truck. The Humane Society said the busted trader brutally kills hundreds of dogs monthly.