Yeah for sure, but, I imagine if 1/5~ people had a cow sleeping on the foot of their bed there would probably be a push to ban beef, it's easy for a lot of people who are exposed to pets to make a distinction of pet vs livestock. It's a whole other thing for most people to extend the empathy they have for pet animals to livestock animals.

It's entirely performative. Dog consumption was more out of necessity in South Korea during and following the Korean War, it isn't a delicacy there, nor did it have cultural importance. The Yoon administration is fascist, with failing economic policies and social regressions targeting women, disabled people, and minorities, so Yoon wanted a cheap optics win and banned something almost nonexistent.

There's no moral or economic reason to ban dog meat and not pork or beef, for example, its just optics for some cheap political capital.