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.
'Not in my backyard': Residents oppose opening of dog parks
Dogs run around a dog park in World Cup Park in Mapo District, western Seoul, in this Jan. 9, 2020, photo. Korea Times file
By Bahk Eun-ji
By Bahk Eun-ji
There have been growing calls to protect the welfare of animals as more and more people in Korea opt to live with pets. One of the demands pet owners have been making to local governments is to create off-leash areas where dogs can play freely.
To meet their requests, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced a plan last year to build at least one dog park in each of the city's 25 districts by 2022, allocating a budget of 100 million won per district.
But the project has been going nowhere due to opposition from residents near the planned sites for the dog parks.
Early last November when Dongdaemun District was about to open its first dog park, residents of nearby apartments opposed the opening mainly due to concerns over dogs making noise and excrement issues.
Neighbors who live directly around the park complained that their lives would be disrupted by barking dogs and possibly careless owners.
“As a mother of two young children, I was worried about my children's safety. There was already a lot of news about accidents involving dogs biting people, and some people even died. My neighbor was also concerned about falling home prices, and honestly, I worry about the issue, too,” said Jo Woo-ri, 41, a resident of Dongdaemun District.
Conflicts between the district office and residents continued, and the former eventually suspended the pet playground just three days after it opened, although the two sides agreed to make efforts to solve the problem.
A park for dogs in Boramae Park Dongjak District, southern Seoul. Korea Times file
Like the Dongdaemun case, all of the dog parks earmarked to open near residential areas in Gangseo, Nowon, Jungnang and Seocho districts were canceled or suspended over neighborhood opposition. Gangnam District Office also had difficulty in choosing a site for the park, and the plan was put on hold until next year.
In Nowon, the district office announced a plan to establish one pet park in early 2018, with two playing facilities, a toilet space, drinking fountain and rest facility for owners.
However, complaints from residents flooded the district office, with people filing more than 300 petitions to the office voicing their opposition citing noise, wildlife preservation, and the safety of children.
“Our aim was to open the park in April 2019, but dropped the plan as tension escalated between residents and the district office,” an official at the district office said.
Currently there are only three dog parks operated directly by the city government. They are located at Seoul Children's Grand Park in Gwangjin District, World Cup Park in Mapo District and Boramae Park in Dongjak District. Two other parks are operated by district offices in Choansan Neighborhood Park in Dobong District and one close to Anyang Stream in Guro District.
They were all set up inside large public parks or on idle land along the banks of rivers or streams, far from residential areas.
The city said it had to halt its dog park plans due to opposition.
“Our plans to set up playgrounds for pets in small parks near residential areas have faced opposition by many neighboring residents,” said an official of the city's animal protection division.
“Their objections started with concerns over sanitation and children's safety and extended to traffic problems caused by visitors driving in from other neighborhoods.”
As it became difficult to set up the dog parks in residential areas, the city government began looking at places along the Han River, as many people take their pets there for walks.
However, the plan faced challenges due to related laws.
Article 33 of the River Act prohibits raising or fly-grazing livestock along rivers or streams, and dogs are classified as livestock under the law.
Earlier, the Busan Metropolitan Government requested an interpretation of the law to the Ministry of Government Legislation to set up such parks along the Nakdong River, but the ministry said, “Dogs can damage facilities along the river or contaminate the water by discharging excrement.”
People walk their dogs along a street in downtown Seoul, Jan. 24. Yonhap
The city proposed a revision to the River Act to make it legal to establish parks for pets along the rivers. “The dog parks are places designed to allow them to run freely without leashes in a designated area with their owners, so it is clearly distinguished from livestock-raising activities stipulated by the act,” the city government official said.
Rep. Ko Yong-jin of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea also proposed a similar revision last August.
“In the parks which opened previously, pet owners are dealing with the feces themselves. So far, there have been no complaints about concerns the ministry raised,” Ko said.
Despite the controversy, there are growing calls to create spaces in which dogs can run around freely, as the number of households raising pets has surged.
According to data by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 5.91 million households, or 26.4 percent of total households, lived with pets as of 2019. By animal, dogs were the most popular pet accounting for 83.9 percent of the total households with pets, followed by cats at 32.8 percent. Some households had more than one type of pet, accounting for the total surpassing 100 percent.
Kim In-seon, a 29-year-old office worker raising a dog in Mapo District, Seoul, said, “There are so many friends and neighbors raising dogs, but sometimes I feel like the social atmosphere and relevant laws have been inexorably pushing dogs further away from social acceptance.”
“Dogs and their owners like myself really need to spend time outdoors in places where they can run free without leashes,” Kim said.
Chae Il-taik, head of the policy team at the Korean Animal Welfare Association, said having such places for dogs can be helpful to all citizens by separating them from those who are afraid of dogs.
“In other countries, spaces where animals can be accompanied or unleashed are common, but there are only a few in Seoul,” Chae said.
Experts say that social consensus is necessary to resolve conflicts between pet owners and others.
“From the initial stages of promoting the facilities, relevant authorities need to hold forums where both residents in favor of or against them can actively voice their views. And a variety of studies are also required to narrow the differences between the two sides,” said Kim Hyun-joong, a researcher at the Korea Rural Economic Institute.