Eight dogs rescued from South Korea have arrived in the UK, where they are set to be rehomed.

Meet Simona.

BuzzFeed News

They were taken from Gangwon province by the Humane Society International (HSI) and brought back to the UK, landing at London's Heathrow Airport on Tuesday night.

In total, the international animal organisation has rescued 770 dogs from South Korea. The majority of the animals end up in the US, rather than the UK.

South Korea is one of few countries in Southeast Asia to breed dogs purely for food. There are still an estimated 17,000 such farms in the country, where nearly 2 million dogs are bred for their meat – often in inhumane conditions. The animals can be killed by electrocution, or by hanging.

Roger Mugford, of the Medical Detection Dogs charity, was part of the team who rescued the dogs. He said he broke down in tears when he saw the conditions.

BuzzFeed News

“It was the smell, and the noise, and the sadness of all the animals was just awful,” he told BuzzFeed News in an animal reception centre near the airport on Wednesday.

“They call themselves farmers, but they are not kind to these animals. They were not given any normal human attention ever.

“All these dogs have a story. Some of the others will become assistance dogs and help change people's lives, and we hope the story will get back to Korea that these dogs they were going to eat have more to offer humanity than that.”

But the first step in the long road of rehabilitation, Mugford said, was “learning English!”

Claire Bass, UK director of HSI, told BuzzFeed News it was “wonderful” to welcome the dogs to the UK. “Despite being denied love and comfort for so long, it’s incredibly touching that these dogs still have such great affection for people,” she said.

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