 Three men who ate someone else's
Jindo dog behind his back have found themselves
in a situation where they must pay the owner
several tens of millions of won. 62-year-old Mr.
Lee, a rental car company executive in
Jeonnong-dong, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, screamed
when he discovered that his Jindo dog "Chanmi,"
which had been tied up in his company's parking
lot, had disappeared Sunday afternoon, leaving
only bloodstains behind.
The prized, purebred Jindo bitch was left in
the parking lot in order to breed, but the dog
disappeared without a trace, and bloodstains and
a metal pipe were discovered. He then remembered
a phone call he received from Mr. Kim, a parking
lot attendant, in which Kim extended an
invitation to have dog meat. Lee called the
police. Learning what Kim had done through the
following police investigation, Lee would be
shocked once again.
Kim and two other employees had beaten the
dog to death with a metal pipe, put it in their
car and went to a nearby river valley where they
boiled up some Korean dog meat soup (boshintang
in Korean), which they ate together. They even
put the leftover meat in a large refrigerator at
an eatery nearby the rental car company for
safekeeping. They knew the dog they were eating
was a Jindo dog, but they didn't know that this
was a proud purebred with a pedigree.
Lee, the owner of the dog, complained,
"Chanmi was a superior Jindo dog with pure blood
that stretched back five generations. On the
investigation report, it was written that the
dog was worth about W10 million, but the Korea
Jindo Dog Association said the dog was worth
several tens of millions of won." Korea Jindo
Dog Association president Lee Cheol-yong said,
"As the dog was two years old and was worth the
most not only because of its blood lines, but
because it was female and could have lots of
puppies, it was worth more than W70~80 million."
Seoul's Cheongnyang-ni Police Station applied
for an arrest warrant for the three on charges
of larceny Monday, but the application was
rejected and they were released in a day. Lee,
the owner of the dog, said, "Even if it's just
to sound the alarm against a social reality that
doesn't seem to value purebred Jindo dogs, I
will launch a lawsuit and get back what my dog
was worth."
Of course we
at ITD sympathize with anyone that
has lost a loved family member. This poor animal
was clearly not that. This was not a pet
but an investment. A dog in Korea is frequently
regarded as dinner. The fact that it was a
pedigree dog should be irrelevant The
police were of course unable to pursue
this matter since dogs are just a
commodity. All of which is in BLATANT
DISREGARD OF KOREA'S ANIMAL WELFARE ACT (which
we all know is regarded as a joke by the Korean
Authorities).
We have little sympathy for the
poor animal's "owner". He is clearly a bastard
whose only concern is recouping whatever money
he can (and perhaps a little more........). The
latest reports indicate that Lee is looking for
US$70,000 (UK£40,000) in compensation, certainly
more than he paid for this abused creature
and her living costs were definitely
cheap.......
But the question remains, why the
global interest in (the dog's commercial value
aside) an everyday event in
Korea?
We at ITD would like to think
that it may have a little to do with the way in
which this item was reported by Chosun Ibo. The
international press consists largely of cynical
people who have seen all manner of cruelty.
Perhaps however even they could not stomach the
cartoon image that tried to make this news story
humorous.
The original report from Chosun
Ibo can be seen at (englishnews@chosun.com
)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200409/200409160027.html
Email address: letters@chosun.com
Perhaps you could drop them a
line to say that killing a dog by hitting it
over the head with a lead pipe is not
funny..... | 