With the 2002 World Cup close at hand, the Korean government is faced with an old problem that pops up every time it is about to undertake a major international event at home dog meat.

Dog meat is arguably the fourth most frequently consumed meat by Koreans, following pork, beef and chicken. Should the sale of dog meat be legalized to bring it under better hygiene standards, or should the government ban the old custom of eating dog meat temporarily to keep away from the fire of of the international press? Or would separating dogs for consumption from ones raised to be household pets solve the problem? The familiar dispute added fuel recently when a group of Korean lawmakers, led by Rep. Kim Hong-shin of the opposition Grand National Party, announced that his party would introduce a bill to legalize the sale of dog meat and thus subject distribution of themeat to government regulations.

Currently, there is no official law regulating the sale and distribution of dog meat. For now, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry appears to be leaning toward holding the custom in check. Last week, the ministry disclosed that it was working on revising the current animal protection law, the consequence of which would prohibit such practice as displaying dog carcasses for sale and mete out heavier penalties for animal abusers by as much as five times greater than before.

An official stressed, however, that it had acted on the revision alone without undue interference from Chong Wa Dae or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The two are naturally more likely to obey the dictates of international opinion which are largely against eating dog meat.

"We have been drawing the revision of the animal law for some time to make up for the lack of regulations dealing with animals and their treatment in general," said Chon Ik-song of the livestock and feed management department. "It (the revision) is about animal protection and not about whether we approve or disapprove of eating dog meat," he said.

Meanwhile, the proponents and opponents of eating dog meat are trying hard to gain the upper hand ahead of a public-opinion poll reportedly being planned by a major television station.

The lawmakers argue that not regulating the sale of dog meat is to allow a potential health risk to go unchecked.

Health officials have repeatedly raised hygiene concerns about dog meat, which is often butchered and cut into parts on cement floors with unsterilized instruments.

The hygiene of dog meat has been further questioned as distributors tend to sell it unprocessed to retain its maximum taste. Unlike cows or pigs, dogs are not subject to inspections for disease before they are killed.

Such irresponsibility, the lawmakers charge, has been perpetuated by the government's unwillingness to face the politically sensitive issue.

"We are dealing with a safety problem here," said Kim Suh-yong, an aide to Rep. Kim Hong-shin. "We are not against animal protection but this (dog meat) is also food that Koreans eat and will continue to eat," he said.

According to figures released by the Korean Food and Drugs Administration, there are 6,464 restaurants that sell "poshintang," or dog meat soup, across the country. They sell 25 tons of the meat per day and 8,428 tons per year. Another 93,600 tons of dog meat is used each year to produce a medical tonic called "kaesoju."

The Korea Animal Protection Society (KAPS) has not yielded to this seemingly radical argument by the lawmakers. The KAPS sent a plea to the Ministry of Agriculture in April to revise the current animal protection law to include an article noting that "pet animals should not be used for other purposes than as pets."

"For animal lovers, the issue concerning dog meat is of utmost concern," said Kum Son-ran, 54, president of the KAPS, the group that has singularly led the anti-dog meat campaign.

"We have proposed the revision of the law in order to leave some legal basis for banning consumption of pet animals, since it's difficult to get the government to issue a directive banning the practice completely," said Kum.

Kum stressed that the major reason for banning dog meat eating is that mistreatment of dogs can ultimately lead to mistreatment of human beings.

"If we allow eating dog, men's best friend, it will cause a domino effect and people will have no qualms about abusing and eating anything," Kum said. "Man will lose morality and will abuse other humans. Many people don't realize the spear that we throw at animals will come back to us," he said.

Along with the proposal, the KAPS has proposed better management of stray animals and a ban against eating cats, considered by the world as the most intimate pet animal along with dogs.