Source: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2888649

April 15, 2008

Officials in Seoul said yesterday they will launch their first health inspections of illegal dog meat restaurants this month. Starting late in the month, the city plans to take dog meat samples from about 530 such restaurants to examine whether they contain heavy metal or other harmful substances. “We do not intend to regulate the selling of dog meat but to examine their safety,” a food safety official said on condition of anonymity.

The city will conduct regular inspections, publicize a list of restaurants that serve unhealthy dog meat and suspend their operations, he said.
Such restaurants are technically illegal. To avoid adverse publicity before the 1988 Olympics, the city banned dog meat and snake meat as “abhorrent food.” The order is now largely ignored.

Somewhere between 2 and 4 million dogs are consumed in South Korea every year, but the slaughtering and processing is often carried out in dirty environments and can pose a risks to diners’ health. AP

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Yeah, not to mention the dogs' health, which is of more concern.