Bahk Eun-ji has been with The Korea Times since 2012, building a career across multiple desks. She began at the Business Desk, where she conducted in-depth interviews with key figures in Korea's corporate world. Later, she moved to the Politics & City Desk, focusing on education policy and social affairs. She later served as team leader of the digital content team, leading curation efforts on the newspaper’s homepage and reshaping print stories for social media audiences to enhance digital reach. Now back on the Politics Desk, she covers the National Assembly and the Ministry of National Defense, with a renewed focus on political developments.
Farm owner confesses to falsifying bear escape to cover up slaughter
Asian black bear /Yonhap
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
It was found that only one Asian black bear escaped earlier this month from a breeding farm in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, contrary to the farm owner's initial report of two bears, according to the Yongin Dongbu Police, Wednesday.
The owner confessed to lying about the number to hide his illegal slaughter of a bear.
Earlier on July 6, the police received a report from the farm owner that two three-year-old male bears, each weighing 60 kilograms, disappeared at around 10:30 a.m.
Workers of Yongin City and the Ministry of Environment immediately conducted search operations, and about two hours later found one bear about 1 kilometer from the breeding farm which they killed.
Although no trace of the other bear was found, the farm owner insisted that two had gone missing. The city government and the ministry continued to search the area around the farm. Meanwhile, residents of the region refrained from going outside, fearing the possibility of an encounter with the runaway bear.
But as the police obtained a search warrant for the farm on Tuesday and found some body parts of a bear that seemed to have been slaughtered, the farmer confessed that he lied to cover up the illegal slaughter.
According to the relevant law, an Asian black bear over 10 years old can be slaughtered for its gallbladder, which is an ingredient in traditional medicine, but the owner must report it to the regional branch of the environment ministry.
The farm owner allegedly slaughtered the bear without making a report.
The local government and the ministry have called off the search operations.
Police are continuing to investigate the farm owner's violation of the law on wild animals. He not only stands to be charged for failure to report the slaughter but also for obstructing justice if his confession is confirmed to be accurate.