Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.
Korean man fined $20,000 for catching scorpions in South Africa
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By Lee Hae-rin
A 26-year-old Korean man who traveled to South Africa was fined 381,676 rand ($20,300) by a local court for illegally catching scorpions.
According to the Korean Embassy in South Africa, Sunday, the Paarl Magistrates’ Court in Western Cape recently sentenced the man, identified only by his surname Kim, to pay the fine or serve two years in prison.
The court noted that Kim still needs to pay 341,676 rand of the fine even if he serves the two-year prison term.
Kim was caught during a search and inspection on Dec. 26 last year for catching about 10 wild scorpions in Paarl, a town famous for wine, 60 kilometers east of Cape Town.
Since then, he has been confined in a local detention center while standing trial.
Kim is consulting his attorney on whether to appeal.
Animal hunting, including the act of collecting clams from the ocean or scorpions and spiders from parks, is strictly prohibited in South Africa.
In 2019, a Korean tourist was arrested after picking some wildflowers from a coastal area in Northern Cape and keeping them in a car trunk.
Any attempt to traffick endangered wildlife species into or out of the country can result in prison terms.
The embassy issued a notice for Korean tourists and residents in South Africa, saying, “It is advised to be especially careful about collecting wild animals and plants without authorization in South Africa.”