South Korea to hunt whales for 'scientific' purposes

Kang Joon-Suk, South Korea's head envoy, said consumption of whale meat "dates back to historical times" in his country and that the minke whale population had recovered since a 1986 global moratorium went into effect.

"Legal whaling has been strictly banned and subject to strong punishments, though the 26 years have been painful and frustrating for the people who have been traditionally taking whales for food," he told the conference.

Whale meat remains popular in the South Korean coastal town of Ulsan, which serves meat from whales "accidentally" caught in nets. Activists have voiced suspicion that whales are often killed deliberately under the guise of accidents.

Kang said South Korea would conduct whaling in its own waters - in contrast to Japan, which infuriates Australia and New Zealand by killing hundreds of whales a year under the guise of research in Antarctic waters.

New Zealand's commissioner, Gerard van Bohemen, charged that South Korea would also be putting whale populations at risk and said that Japan had not contributed to science after years of expeditions.

South Korea's plan is "unnecessary and borders on the reckless. New Zealand is strongly opposed to Korea's proposal," he said.

South Korean delegate Park Jeong-Seok voiced anger at the foreign criticism. He said that Seoul did not need to inform about its whaling but was doing so "in the spirit of trust, good faith and transparency."

Under the Commission's rules, nations can conduct lethal research on whales, with the meat then going to consumption.
Norway and Iceland are the only nations that defy the moratorium entirely.

Iceland also used to describe its whaling as scientific but shifted its position in 2006 and said it was commercial in nature.

South Korea carried out scientific whaling for one season after the 1986 moratorium went into effect.