It is estimated that up to 1.5 million dogs are still slaughtered for food each year in South Korea. Nielson research also reveals that in 2020, the capital, Seoul, had an estimated 436 dog meat restaurants.

There is still a belief, particularly among the older generation, that dog meat soup will cool the body during the hot summer and build stamina.

Most Koreans have never eaten dog meat, but there is not universal support for making it illegal. Jurisdiction on the issue remains opaque – dog meat is neither legal nor explicitly banned.

A 2020 opinion poll commissioned by Human Society International and conducted by Nielsen showed nearly 84 per cent of South Koreans said they don’t or won’t eat dog, but fewer – almost 60 per cent – supporting a legislative ban on the trade.  

Some want the government to temporarily legalise dog meat consumption until demand naturally tapers off as the public mindset shifts.

But animal rights groups want a quicker end to a business they have repeatedly condemned for its cruelty.

Some, like the Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA), have carried out their own investigations into the trade, unearthing cruel treatment and squalid conditions at mass dog farms, where the animals are often crammed into wire crates and neglected.

Choi Yoon-jung, an activist with KARA, told the Telegraph dogs had been electrocuted to death in one of the slaughterhouses the group raided.

For Ms Choi, the fact that it was “culture” did not mean that a minority should have the right to consume it.