Korea's wolves - deadly devils of the night

The mountainous region of Gyeongsang Province. Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection

By Robert Neff

In the early 1880s, change was forced on Korea.

Treaties with European countries and the United States brought diplomats, missionaries and a handful of businessmen ― mainly to the three open ports and the capital. Some of the more adventurous Westerners traveled extensively throughout the peninsula and published their observations in official government reports and personal journals and books.

William R. Carles was one of these men. He first came to Korea in the latter part of 1883 with members of Jardine Matheson & Co. and traveled to their mining sites in the mountainous regions before returning to China.

In the following year, he was made the British vice-consul to Korea and, as part of his duties, traveled widely in the northern part of the peninsula. The book he subsequently published gives an interesting (and amusing) view of Korea in the mid-1880s and the changes to Korean society. But changes were not limited only to the realm of men.

A tomb in Gyeongju. Courtesy of Diane Nars Collection

Carles wrote:

“It seems extraordinary that Corea should be free from wolves, which are common in the north-east of China, and certainly in parts of Manchuria: as far as I could gather, wolves never make their appearance in Corea. On the other hand, tigers and panthers are constantly making depredations and carrying off pigs and dogs from the villages, occasionally even entering the towns.”

That may have been true in the 1880s but by the late 1890s, wolves ― although rare ― began to appear and cause problems on the peninsula.

In January 1897, a pack of wolves roamed the mountains and hills surrounding Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. They raided pigsties and snatched dogs. They also preyed on humans. It was reported that more than 20 people living in the area had been killed that winter by wolves. But the attacks didn't just happen during the winter.

In the summer, children were occasionally attacked while playing alone or with friends near their homes. At night, many people slept on their porches and wolves would actually creep up and snatch a sleeping child. One large wolf in Gyeongsang Province killed eight children before it was hunted down and killed.

These initial incidents were mainly by small wolves hunting in packs and they generally confined themselves to killing livestock and sometimes ― if the opportunity provided ― small children. But by the early 1900s, the attacks changed. Lone wolves, much larger than the pack wolves, prowled the mountains and forests and deliberately preyed on women and children. Some speculated that the wolves were originally from Siberia and had been driven south ― into Korea ― “by special conditions, climatic or otherwise…”

A sacred grove in Gyeongju. Robert Neff Collection

These wolves were said to be huge ― some accounts claimed they were the size of small horses ― but Horace H. Underwood dismissed these accounts as exaggerations. However, even he admitted the wolves were large and dangerous. He wrote:

“I know of an authentic case, however, which shows the size that some of them attain. It seems that some years ago, near Syenchun [Sinchon, North Pyongan Province], a boy was bending over, working in the fields when a larger wolf stole out of the woods and seized him. Shouts and the approach of men working in another part of the field drove the beast off, and the boy, a good-sized twelve-year-old, was hurried to Dr. Sharrock's who personally treated him and on whose word I have it that teeth marks from the upper jaw reached almost to the spinal column while those left by the lower jaw extended to the breast bone.”

According to an English-language newspaper in 1916:

“The Korean wolf, which is locally known as the neuktai, is a powerful animal of the canine species, a little larger, but longer and thinner than the native Korean dog. In color it is brown and gray. It possesses piercing eyes and in the face of danger or while capturing prey shows wonderful agility, hiding itself in underbrush, jumping over high cliffs or swiftly swimming across rivers and lakes.

“In attacking a pony or cow it will leap upon the victim's flank and kill instantly by tearing open some vital part. In attacking a man it will follow him for a time and occasionally leap over his head, seeking to unnerve him and cause him to fall to the ground, when it will immediately attack and kill. Oftentimes it will summon its mates to assist in attacking. There are instances of where a wolf has carried off a big hog for considerable distance or where it has jumped over a high wall with a pig in its mouth.”

The Gyeongju area. Robert Neff Collection

The same newspaper went on to add that the “ferocious creatures slew 113 persons and injured 50, besides killing or injuring 517 cattle and 1,519 other domestic animals.”

Unlike the tigers, wolves managed to terrorize the peninsula even after the Korean War. On the evening of August 3, 1965, in Pusan, a six-year-old boy was playing in his yard when a wolf suddenly appeared and ― unbeknown to the child's parents ― carried the boy away. The boy's partially eaten corpse was discovered later that night.

Also in Pusan, and on the following night, a wolf stole into a house and snatched a sleeping child. The corpse was found an hour later in a field.

Tomorrow we will look at the wolves of Goyang.

(I would like to thank Diane Nars and Jeon Dong-hun for their assistance)