Jin-hui, a cream-colored Pomeranian, was buried alive and left for dead in 2018 in the South Korean port city of Busan.
No charges were filed against its owner at the time, but animal abusers and those who abandon pets are soon to face harsher punishment as South Korea plans to amend its civil code to grant animals legal status, South Korean Office of Legal Counsel Director-General Choung Jae-min said in an interview.
The amendment, which must still be approved by the South Korean National Assembly, likely during its regular session next month, would make South Korea one of a handful of countries to recognize animals as beings, with a right to protection, enhanced welfare and respect for life.
Photo: Reuters
The push for the amendment comes as the number of animal abuse cases increased to 914 in 2019 from 69 in 2010, data published by a lawmaker’s office showed, and the pet-owning population grew to more than 10 million people in the country of 52 million.
South Korea’s animal protection law states that anyone who abuses or is cruel to animals may be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison or fined 30 million won (US$25,498), but the standards to decide penalties have been low as animals are treated as objects under the existing legal system, Choung said.
Once South Korea’s Civil Act states that animals are no longer simply things, judges and prosecutors would have more options when determining sentencing, he said.
Photo: Reuters
The proposal has met with skepticism from the Korea Pet Industry Retail Association, which said that laws are in place to protect animals.
“The revision will only call for means to regulate the industry by making it difficult to adopt pets, which will impact greatly not only the industry, but the society as a whole,” association director-general Kim Kyoung-seo said.
Choung said that the amended civil code would also pave the way for follow-up efforts, such as life insurance packages for animals and the obligation to rescue and report roadkill.
The amendment is likely to be passed, said lawmaker Park Hong-keun, who heads the Animal Welfare Parliamentary Forum, as there is widespread social consensus that animals should be protected and respected as living beings that coexist in harmony with people.
Animal rights groups welcomed the South Korean Ministry of Justice’s plan, while calling for stricter penalties for those who abandon or torture animals, as well as a ban on dog meat.
“Abuse, abandonment and neglect for pets have not improved in our society,” Korea Animal Rights Advocates head Cheon Chin-kyung said.
Despite a slight drop last year, animal abandonment rose to 130,401 cases last year from 89,732 in 2016, the South Korean Animal and Plant Quarantine Agency said.
South Korea has about 6 million dogs and 2.6 million cats.
Jin-hui, which means “true light” in Korean, now enjoys spending time with other dogs at an animal shelter south of Seoul.
“Its owner lost his temper and told his kids to bury it alive. We barely managed to save it after a call, but the owner wasn’t punished, as the dog was recognized as an object owned by him,” shelter manager Kim Gea-yeung said. “Animals are certainly not objects.”
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr yesterday vowed that those behind bogus flood control projects would be arrested before Christmas, days after deadly back-to-back typhoons left swathes of the country underwater. Scores of construction firm owners, government officials and lawmakers — including Marcos’ cousin congressman — have been accused of pocketing funds for substandard or so-called “ghost” infrastructure projects. The Philippine Department of Finance has estimated the nation’s economy lost up to 118.5 billion pesos (US$2 billion) since 2023 due to corruption in flood control projects. Criminal cases against most of the people implicated are nearly complete, Marcos told reporters. “We don’t file cases for
A feud has broken out between the top leaders of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party on whether to maintain close ties with Russia. The AfD leader Alice Weidel this week slammed planned visits to Russia by some party lawmakers, while coleader Tino Chrupalla voiced a defense of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The unusual split comes at a time when mainstream politicians have accused the anti-immigration AfD of acting as stooges for the Kremlin and even spying for Russia. The row has also erupted in a year in which the AfD is flying high, often polling above the record 20 percent it
Ecuadorans are today to vote on whether to allow the return of foreign military bases and the drafting of a new constitution that could give the country’s president more power. Voters are to decide on the presence of foreign military bases, which have been banned on Ecuadoran soil since 2008. A “yes” vote would likely bring the return of the US military to the Manta air base on the Pacific coast — once a hub for US anti-drug operations. Other questions concern ending public funding for political parties, reducing the number of lawmakers and creating an elected body that would
‘ATTACK ON CIVILIZATION’: The culture ministry released drawings of six missing statues representing the Roman goddess of Venus, the tallest of which was 40cm Investigators believe that the theft of several ancient statues dating back to the Roman era from Syria’s national museum was likely the work of an individual, not an organized gang, officials said on Wednesday. The National Museum of Damascus was closed after the heist was discovered early on Monday. The museum had reopened in January as the country recovers from a 14-year civil war and the fall of the 54-year al-Assad dynasty last year. On Wednesday, a security vehicle was parked outside the main gate of the museum in central Damascus while security guards stood nearby. People were not allowed in because
RSS