I urge you to take a look at the following:

http://www.koreananimals.org/cats.htm

WARNING: Some of the photos in the dog area are especially gruesome...
http://www.koreananimals.org/dogs.htm

If you are moved by what you see, please consider sending emails, writing letters, and possibly even donating to this cause. There is a link, http://www.koreananimals.org/help.htm , for those who desire to help out. An email costs no money. A letter costs very little.

This site was brought to my attention by a segment on TV where they were showing the brutal killings of these dogs that are used in an underground, supposedly illegal (yet laws are not enforced) black market of dog meat. They did not edit out the screams of the dogs being beaten in the head, nor those tied to a tree, nor those being hung.

I am disturbed by what I saw. I've known this sort of thing to have gone on for quite some time, but seeing it like that got to me.

Karma,
I've known for years that this went on. My dad was in Korea and had a waiter at a restaurant bing out a dog for him to see when he ordered a meal. It sucks bigtime and yes the methods used to kill the poor dogs and cats are awful.
Unfortunatly there are very few countries that treat dogs, cats, rabbits and horses the way we do. In fact, most asian countries consider them all food instead of pets. The US people spend billions on pet foods and supplies while other less wealthy countries see that as a waste and wonder why we don't eat them. It will be a hard up-hill battle to convince countries that have eaten dogs and cats for centuries, that it is a cruel thing to do. The report of this article is incorrect as to how long they have been eating dogs. They have been doing it much longer than just after the war as did some of our cultures. Native Americans used to eat dog and horse meat. That is where the term dog-soldier came from. When they had nothing else they ate the camp dogs.
Its easy to say lets go in and stop it. It is much harder in practice though. To many there dog meat is the only kind of meat they can afford. Dogs are cheap to raise. We are seen as a pretty arrogant country/ people when we go to places like this and try to tell them that what they have been doing for years is wrong. Especially when so many of their people live in such poor conditions, and we offer no alternative to what they have been doing. In order for us to stop this we would have to spend billions to find a replacement source of food for them. Most can't afford beef, and by taking away this source of food, prices for others would go up, making it more difficult for those who can't afford food as it is.
Another thought on this is..have you ever been to a slaughter house here? I have. Its not any prettier than what you saw in those pictures. They tell you it is, but in reality things happen there that are not to different than those photos. I used to have to go to one to get pig blood for vampire bats at the zoo I worked for. They run cattle up a chute using an electric cattle prod, and into a box made of tubular steel bars. Once inside they kill them with what they call a "humane" killer. A gun that puts a large bullet through their skull (only words I can use to describe it). Sometimes it doesn't do the job right away and has to be done again. And from people I have talked to that worked there, they have used heavy steel mallots as well. The butchering process continues whether the cow is dead or not.
Rabbits killed for human consumption don't always fare as well as cattle. They either have their necks broke, are whacked against a hard surface to crush the skull, or have their heads cut off.
We can't claim the title of most humane meat eaters on the earth I'm afraid.
I'm not saying I don't find the Asian method disgusting, or revolting. I would love to see all forms of this stopped just like you. All I am saying is that Americans tend to try to shove their cultural and humanitarian beliefs at others, while offering no viable alternatives. Just because we view these animals as pets and can't imagine eating them, and spend fortunes on them as pets, it does not give us the right to force our views on them.

cats and dogs are cute, sure, but in principle, how more wrong is it than eating a cow, or other meat that the western world eats in large quantities?

I'm not saying i dont find it all horrible and cruel, but whats the difference?

I dont see anything worng with it. If you need to eat, eat.

And the same situation could be said when another culture can't eat cows, because they believe they are reincarnated holy men...and we have burger places everywhere.

Chaotic has it right. When is it acceptable to impose our beliefs on others just because what they do offends us. If we don't like we have the right to leave and not come back. While we may not think its nice to eat dogs, we do eat other things that other cultures consider sacred..case in point would be the cow. In India thousands starve every year while beef on the hoof wanders around their villages and no one will touch them. That would offend my senses since I would rather see them eat the darn cow than starve. I figure they can always find something else to worship. Most toher countries just don't get our affinity for keeping food as a pet. The money we spend in one year on dog food alone would probably feed the whole population of a starving third world country. That's pretty sick to think about sometimes--that we feed our dogs better than some people in our own and other countries get to eat. Did you know that canned dog food in this country has to be approved for human consumption because there are people in this country who are poor and will buy it to eat? Now, think on how that has to look. Asking for donations to save dogs and cats in Asian countries while people back here eat dog food because they can't afford anything else. While I don't like to see animals mistreated, they have to come second to seeing people starve.