By Jeon Jee-yeon
The fact that until about 100 years ago tigers roamed this land freely has become a near myth to modern-day Koreans.
Until the beginning of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910), tigers were a symbol of wealth and honor amongst common households and the royal palace, and people were not to hunt or harm these creatures under any circumstances. But, what drove all those once fierce and delicate creatures from the face of this country? The only tigers we see today are the ones on the shirts of our national soccer team, and in metropolitan zoos. Where did they all go?
Before we question on how they all disappeared, how did they come to Korea? Studies show that the species that lived in Korea were classified as Amur tigers, which are in the same family as the Siberian tiger, Manchurian tiger, and the Baekdu Mountain tiger.
According to the academic world, Amur tigers presumably moved to Korea from the southern parts of China more than 12,000 years ago. During the Three Kingdom period and throughout the Goryeo Kingdom, humans and tigers remained and maintained a balanced relationship; they wouldn’t trespass on each other’s territory and neither would dare do anything disruptive that might break harmony.
However, when Korea went into the Joseon Kingdom, not only did the royal reign change but so did what people believed in. Before the Joseon era, people of the peninsula mainly believed in Buddhism, in which you are not permitted to kill even a single ant.
However, things turned 180 degrees in the Joseon Kingdom. People mainly believed in Confucianism, where people were allowed to destroy anything that came in the way of a person’s or a society’s peace. Furthermore, the Joseon era was when the country encouraged development of low and moist lands for agricultural purposes. These areas were the tiger’s main habitat and in order to cultivate these lands the country needed to get rid of every tiger that stood as an obstacle. Studies show that most of the Korean Amur tigers were wiped out during this period but these animals came closer to extinction during Japan’s occupation of Korea. The Japanese government ordered every tiger be caught and killed for the protection of the people of Korea however the truth of it was actually to make the development of the peninsula much easier and they were actually trying to break the people’s pride by destroying one of the animals they thought were sacred. During this time, not only tigers but also leopards were hunted down and killed in large numbers.
Toward the end of the Japan’s annexation of Korea, neither captures nor sightings of the Amur tigers had stopped.
What happened to our once fierce tigers is truly a tragic thing but it is still not too late. For instance, China’s symbol, the giant panda, was near extinction but it was prevented by close attention from the government and NGOs.
They were able to build the Wolong National Nature Reserve which serves as a home to more than 200 giant pandas and many other endangered species, and some were released back to the wild later on.
In Korea, we have the Asiatic black bear, also known as the Moon bear, and though only recently our country too has shown support toward wildlife restoration programs. The only place we can see the remaining Korean Amur tigers, is the Seoul National Zoo, which serves as a home to 20 of the animals.
Before we start to restore these beautiful creatures back to where they belong, or at least to nature reserves, we should all keep in mind that tigers are our cultural representatives, the pillar of our spiritual mental minds, and one of the greatest adjusters of the balance of our ecology.
In order for this mindset to be prevalent in the next generation, we need to constantly find ways to restore these creatures, and let the others know about the tiger’s part in history.
The writer is a student living in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province. She also lived in Canada for 10 years, and can be reached at yeonicool7@hanmail.net.