Jin-hui, a cream-colored Pomeranian, was buried alive and left to die in the South Korean port city of Busan in 2018.
No charges have been brought against its owner at the time, but animal molesters and those who leave pets will soon face harsher sentences as South Korea plans to amend its civil code to give animals legal status, South Korean Office of Legal Counsel Director General Choung said Jae-min in an interview.
The change, which has yet to be approved by the South Korean National Assembly, likely during its regular session next month, would make South Korea one of the few countries to recognize animals as living beings with a right to protection, improved welfare and respect for life .
Photo: Reuters
The pressure for the change comes as the number of animal abuse cases rose from 69 in 2010 to 914 in 2019, data released by a lawmaker showed, and the number of pet owners in the country grew from 52 million to more than 10 million people .
South Korean Animal Welfare Act states that anyone who abuses animals or is cruel can be sentenced to a maximum of three years in prison or a fine of 30 million won ($ 25,498) under the existing legal system, Choung said.
Once South Korean civil law establishes that animals are no longer just things, judges and prosecutors will have more options in deciding on convictions, he said.
Photo: Reuters
The proposal met with skepticism from the Korea Pet Industry Retail Association, which said there are laws in place to protect animals.
“The revision will only require funds to regulate the industry by making it harder to adopt pets, which will have a major impact not just on the industry but on society as a whole,” said the association’s general manager Kim Kyoung-seo.
Choung said the amended civil code would also pave the way for follow-up measures such as life insurance for animals and the obligation to rescue and report road deaths.
The change is likely to pass, said Park Hong-keun, legislator who heads the Parliamentary Forum on Animal Welfare, said as there is widespread social consensus that animals should be protected and respected as living things that live in harmony with humans.
Animal welfare groups welcomed the South Korean Justice Department’s plan and called for stricter penalties for those abandoning or torturing animals, as well as a ban on dog meat.
“Pet abuse, abandonment and neglect have not improved in our society,” said Cheon Chin-kyung, head of the Korean Animal Rights Advocacy Service.
Despite a slight decrease in the past year, the number of animals released rose from 89,732 in 2016 to 130,401 cases, said the South Korean animal and plant quarantine authority.
South Korea has around 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.
“His owner lost his temper and asked his children to bury him alive. We barely managed to save it after a phone call, but the owner was not punished as the dog was recognized as an object that belonged to him, ”said Kim Gea-yeung, director of the shelter. “Animals are certainly not objects.”
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