Aussie MPs slam South Korea whaling plans

5 Jul 2012, 4:28 pm   -   Source: AAP
South Korea says it plans to start whaling following the lead of Japan's controversial expeditions. (AAP)

South Korea says it plans to start whaling following the lead of Japan's controversial expeditions. (AAP)

The Australian government, the opposition and the Greens are all indignant at South Korea's plan to resume whaling.

RELATED

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has condemned South Korea's plans to resume its whale slaughter and has instructed Australia's top diplomat in Seoul to lodge a protest.

South Korea announced the plan at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in Panama on Thursday.

It intends allowing the hunting of minke whales in its coastal waters by exploiting the same legal loophole the Japanese use to conduct their controversial scientific whaling program.

Ms Gillard said she was very disappointed by South Korea's surprise move.

"We are completely opposed to whaling, there's no excuse for scientific whaling," she told reporters in Melbourne.

"I have instructed our ambassador in Korea to raise this matter today at the highest levels of the Korean government."

Ms Gillard said Ambassador Sam Gerovich would make clear Australia's opposition to the move.

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key indicated his government would also complain to the Koreans.

"We think it would be a terrible step in the wrong direction," he told reporters during a visit to Sydney.

"That's not the right way that we think Korea should be going."

Mr Key warned the move could lead to a further unravelling of the IWC's whale protection system.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the coalition remained strongly opposed to whaling.

"We would respectfully say to the South Koreans, 'Don't do it,'" he told reporters on the NSW Central Coast.

The IWC imposed a moratorium on commercial whaling in 1986 amid fears the ocean giants were headed for extinction.

Japan currently pursues whales under a loophole in IWC rules that allows hunting for scientific purposes, with the carcasses later used for food.

South Korean delegate to the IWC meeting, Kang Joon-Suk, said his government was considering resuming whaling because the minke population had recovered since the moratorium began.

Those minkes are now "eating away large amounts of fish stocks" that should be consumed by humans, he said.

Another South Korean delegate, Park Jeong-Seok, said his country would submit more detailed plans at a later date but stressed, "We are under no obligation to inform you in advance."

"As a responsible member of the commission, we do not accept any such categorical, absolute proposition that whales should not be killed or caught," he said.

South Korean fishermen have for some years on-sold whale meat accidentally caught in nets under the IWC's so-called "inadvertent by-catch" rule.

Australian Greens senator Scott Ludlam called on the government to push back "very hard" over Korea's plans.

Environmentalists like International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) campaigner Matthew Collis also condemned Korea's decision.

"There is simply no humane way to kill a whale," Mr Collis said in a statement.

Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has vowed to harass South Korean whalers if the plan proceeds.

  • Follow us: 
  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Twitter
  • Follow us on Youtube