"PANAMA CITY, Panama, July 4, 2012 (ENS) - South Korea startled International Whaling Commission delegates today by announcing that the country plans to start 'scientific' whaling off its shores."
"Head of the South Korean delegation, Kang Joon-Suk, told the commission's annual meeting in Panama City that his country would submit a research whaling plan to the next meeting of the IWC Scientific Committee next year.
South Korea stopped whaling in 1986 in compliance with the IWC's global moratorium on commercial whaling. The moratorium was imposed out of fear that a continuation of centuries of whaling would wipe out many whale species.
The South Korean announcement opens a new battleground in the whale wars. Since 1987, Japan has been whaling under a provision in the commission's rules that allow nations to conduct lethal research on whales, with the meat then being sold to consumers."
Environment New Service had the story July 4, 2012.
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