A tragic case of animal suffering that has gripped South Korea over the last couple of days appears to show that putting an animal at risk of serious injury or death won’t necessarily lead to any punitive action.

Courtesy CARE

Animal rights activists are protesting against the case.

A public uproar was triggered after a picture was posted by a witness on Saturday on an online forum of a dog being dragged by its leash from the back of a car. The dog died from its injuries.
The driver of the car, a 44-year-old Mr. Oh, was questioned by police but released without charges on Tuesday. The driver told police he received the dog, a beagle, as a present from an acquaintance on Friday night. He tied and put it in the trunk of his car because “the dog was dirty,” he told police. And in a fatal mistake, he left the trunk open because he was worried about the dog suffocating.
A witness told the police that when Mr. Oh saw what had happened, he looked clearly shocked. He was cited by a witness as saying “it’s all my fault. I can’t imagine how much it hurt.”
Under animal protection laws, only deliberate animal abuse is subject to punishment of up to one year in prison and up to a 10 million won fine.
K-pop star Lee Hyo-ri, known for her interest in animal rights, was one of those who protested the lack of punishment online. Ms. Lee later spoke to Mr. Oh by phone and accepted his explanation, but questioned existing animal protection legislation on Twitter.
“This incident shed a light on how lax our animal protection law is. I now have a vague idea of how people think of animals. I think there is a long way to go,” she wrote.
Activist group Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth said it would hold a rally on Saturday to protest the handling of the case.
Park So-yeon, leader of the group, told the Journal, “in Korea, animal protection laws are virtually nonexistent. Only when an animal is seriously injured due to deliberate abuse the owner gets punished. It is clearly not enough given that around 4 million households live with a pet.”