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.
Calls grow for punishment of sadistic cat killer
A screenshot from a video of a stray cat being burned by a man who allegedly killed it and uploaded the video onto online community DC Inside. Screenshot from KARA
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
The police said, Sunday, that they have launched a probe into a man who allegedly brutally burned and killed a stray cat.
According to the Gangnam Police Station in Seoul, the man, who uploaded a video of the abuse and killing of a cat to online community DC Inside, is being investigated for having violated the Animal Protection Act.
The man posted videos and photos showing a cat being burned alive on the online forum twice, on Jan. 28 and 30. In one video, a cat trapped in an iron cage was set alight and struggled in pain.
As the video and photos went viral, animal rights group Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) reported the man to the Mapo Police Station on Feb. 9 for violating the Animal Protection Act. Another group, Care, offered a reward of 10 million won ($8,340) to anyone who could provide the man's identity.
A petition was posted on the Cheong Wa Dae website on Feb. 3, calling for sufficient punishment of the man, based on allegations of animal cruelty, as well as the shutting down of the section of the online community where similar content of animals being abused has been repeatedly posted. It has garnered over 140,000 signatures as of 11 a.m. Sunday.
"The man is ridiculing the people who reported him to the police by saying that he won't get caught by the police because he used a paid VPN service to in order make his location untraceable,” the petitioner wrote. “Strong measures are required so as to root out such animal cruelty.”
Meanwhile, the Animal Protection Law stipulates a maximum of three years in prison, or a fine of up to 30 million won, in the case of cruelty to an animal resulting in death. In the case in which physical pain or injury is caused to an animal, the penalty is a maximum of two years in prison or a 20 million won fine.