BUSAN, South Korea -- Much as Jonah ended up in the belly of the whale, South Korea has itself been consumed by a public relations leviathan following the recent proposal for "scientific" research whaling along its coastal waters.

 

Unlike Jonah, the Korean ordeal will likely last longer than three days and nights in the belly of the beast ?and leaders in Seoul walked into their whale voluntarily. The question is why?

 

It all started last week at an International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting in Panama where a South Korean delegation led by Dr. Kang Joon-suk announced his country’s intent to join the maligned trio of Iceland, Norway and Japan in “research” whaling.

 

Reading from a prepared statement Dr. Kang said, ”The proposed scientific research program is designed to analyze and accumulate biological and ecological data on the Minke whales migrating off the Korean Peninsula.”

 

The proposal was immediately slammed by non-whaling countries and international animal rights groups. Officials from the highest levels of government chimed in with their disappointment and “shock” at the unexpected move by Seoul.

 

Perhaps the most fervent (and creative) response was that of South Korean anti-whaling activists. During a post-Panama protest in Seoul they dressed like whale researchers and pretended to slash a mock-up of a baby whale with a chainsaw and pound it with a hammer. Even more demeaning were the cardboard crosses that showed the flags of South Korea and their much hated neighbor Japan side-by-side in the crosshairs of guilt.

As pointed to directly by Dr. Kang, the driving force behind South Korea’s call for “research” was the port city of Ulsan, where local fishermen claim the Minke whale is gobbling up their catch. The only way to prove it, according to the the government, is to cut the whales open and have a look inside.

 

Dr. Kang spoke directly to the fisherman’s claims saying: “This is because they are experiencing disturbances in their fishing activities due to frequent occurrences of cetaceans in their fishing grounds and an increasing number of minke whales are eating away large amount of fish stocks which should be consumed by human being.” [sic]

 

The government proposal to the IWC also noted that the country has a long “cultural tradition” of consuming whale meat, saying the last 26 years (since the 1986 ban) has been “painful and frustrating” for people who once regularly caught whales for meat.

 

The government’s claim that this is a matter of “respecting local culture” is ?pardon the pun?very fishy.  Is the “pain and frustration” about depleted numbers of fish stock and cultural traditions or about the chance to catch more whales at immensely greater profit?

 

The average 18-20 foot whale “accidentally” caught in a fisherman’s net or found dead in open waters will earn around $100,000 at the local market. How’s that for a day’s work? Along the coast the Minke whale is often referred to as a “lottery” catch.

 

Though this is the first time such a global outcry has sprung forth from anti-whaling activists, this is not the first time the government in Seoul has sought to have the ban lifted to appease local profiteers on the coast. The most recent bid was in 2009. At that time the government spoke not in terms of science, coastal traditions or culture, but in prideful boasts of profit and competition with the Japanese.

 

“Before the ban, South Korea had bigger whaling vessels than Japan did. But now, there is not a single whaler left,'' an official from the Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries told the Korea Times. “We are in a situation where we cannot completely ignore steady calls from fishermen in Ulsan and other southwestern regions.''