Thursday 5 July 2012

South Korea whaling plan "in name of science"

South Korea is proposing to hunt whales under provisions made for scientific research, echoing the programme of near neighbour Japan.

There are several stocks of minke whales in the area which the South Korean delegation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) said they plan to conduct research into, something which the New Zealand delegation said "borders on the reckless".

But Joon-Suk Kang, head of the South Korean delegation, said the programme was necessary to answer questions about minke whale stocks that non-lethal research has been unable to solve. "We need to make proper assessments of whale stocks", Joon-Suk told the commission, "like which wine goes best with minke whale carpaccio. If you can tell me that without killing a minke whale... well good luck to you sirs".

Australia's Donna Petrochenko took the same line as the New Zealanders, saying "this is commercial whaling, pure and simple". Joon-Suk was unbowed, claiming "nonsense. This is valuable scientific research. Valuably delicious research, yum yum yum" as he licked his lips and rubbed his stomach.

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