South Korean Government's indifference to Animal Welfare

   On november 29th, the first new outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) was reported in North Gyeong-Sang province in South Korea. The South Korean government failed controlling the disease at an early stage and now the highly contagious disease has been reported in five another provinces. The government and the officials did their best but to no vail. The lethal disease to cloven-hoofed animals does not seem to restrain from spreading.

   As a measure to control such highly contagious disease, mass slaughters were taken place and it was in record numbers. It is unavoidable to kill animals in order to prevent the disease from spreading. However, the procedures of killing animals for disease control purpose should be conducted in a way that meets the international standards for animal welfare.

   However, it is reported that thousands of pigs have been buried alive as part of the control. Since the outbreak of the FMD, over 470,000 animals, four percent of South Korea's livestocks have been either culled or destined for slaughter. Live burial of animals is a breach of the World Organisation for Anmal Health's (OIE) guideline on the Killing of Animals for Disease Control Purposes. Since South Korea is a member of the OIE it should observe the guidelines. The guideline says "When animals are killed for disease control purposes, methods used should result in immediate death or immediate loss of consciousness lasting until death; when loss of consciousness is not immediate, induction of unconsciousness should be non-aversive or the least aversive possible and should not cause avoidable anxiety, pain, distress or suffering in animals.”

   Some people who put priority to human interest over animal welfare may say that considering animal welfare into the measure is inefficient in controlling the disease, causing more economic damage. Their argument is based on a premise that since animal do not have emotion, they do not deserve any rights. It is true that animals do not have sophisticated emotion like human, such as feeling depressed by one's social status even though they have enough to live on or being amazed at 3D movies and etc. However, when it comes to death, the fear and pain which animals feel are no less than those of human. The fact that human enjoy more delicate feelings does not lead to the fact that animals have less fear of pain in front of death. People even say that human has the right to die in dignity. It does not need to be to this extent, but the slaughter should be completed as quickly as possible in order to minimize the pain and distress that animals might have during the process.

   However, the most preffered approah dealing with FMD, from the standpoint of animal welfare advocate, would be the vaccination. The OIE distinguish states into three kinds concerning FMD; FMD present with or without vaccination, FMD-free with vaccination and FME-free without vaccination. Countries that are designated as FMD-free without vaccination have the greatest access to export markets because there is a possibility that the disease might remain in the body of the vaccinated animals. Therefore, it is difficult to regain FMD-free witouth vaccination status and this is the reason why governments try not to use it when such emergency disease outbreaks.

   South Korean government reluctantly begun vaccination cows as FMD spirals out of control. Pigs are exempted from the inoculation. This shows that the government makes decision only by the economic damage that will cause. It is lamentable that there is no consideration on animal welfare. Also people's lack of interest in animal welfare and taking killing animals for granted contributed to this situation. For a long-term project, an education and promotion of animal welfare should take place.

Dress to Impress

   In some businesse industries, appearances can make or break careers. A bank is a great example. Recently, the Swiss bank UBS released a 43-page dress code to its retail banking staff. The advices were strict to the point of excess. However, the reation to the dress code is unexpectedly positive. It is unclear whether the staff members of the UBS are at the same page with their company, but customers are welcoming the policy.

   To point out some guidelines from the dress code, staff members are recommended to wear suits in dark grey, black or navy blue beacuse these colors usually symbolize competence, formalism and sobriety. For female staff members, the skirt should reach their knee and also wearing too much accesories are not recommended. For male staff members, wearing accesories is banned except for a watch, which represents reliability and great care for punctuality. In addition , long knee-high socks are encouraged in order to prevent from showing their actual skin when they cross their legs. The code even designates which underwear one should wear. For men, it should be of good quality and easily washable but still remain undetectable. For female staffs the color of their underwear should match with their skin color in case the uniform is made of translucent fabric.

   Under these strict guidelines, there is no chance to express one's personality through their fashion. As a result, it may be undesirable for the staff. However,the fact that customers prefer clerks who are neatly dressed led many companies likely to adapt such kind of dress-code. It was the customers' preference which reversed the trend of casual dress code into a formal business attire, which was once abandoned for the sake of positive effects by expressing one's personality.

   Not only people have their own personality but also companies have a certain image that can appeal to customers. The image of a company is as important as the personality of individuals, since it determines how other people think about you. There are many elements that build up a comapany's image. It includes quality of their products, employers, corporate strategy and etc. Especially for service companies, the employees play a big role in establishing their companies' image. Therefore, employers, who care about the image of their companies, can demand their staff to cooperate with the company's policy. Policies that are related to promoting a corporate's image should not be regarded as an invasion of privacy since working in a company is open to the public.

   Especially businesses in the sevice industry, a good image is essential as well. It is a common sense that people do not like to go to a restaurant where the kitchen looks dirty and whose waiters are unfriendly. When people choose a restaurant for a dinner, they consider not only the taste of food but also the atmosphere of the restaurant. People expect to have a dinner at a clean restaurant with a nice service. This also applies to financial service companies like banks. Banks live on confidence by their customers. 

   It is the staff's duty to satisfy clients by providing good quality of service. Good quality of service includes not only the service that a company provides but also secondary services that emplyers provide such as comfortable environment, friendly attitude and etc. Dress code is one way to enhance the quality of secondary service.