Got a pit bull, a Rottweiler, or tosa? Insure it or else, says South Korea

(Beth Clifton collage)

Dangerous breeds banned from daycare centers,  kindergartens,  & elementary schools

            SEOUL, South Korea––Cracking down on possession of dangerous dogs for the third time in three years,  the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food,  & Rural Affairs has since April 21,  2020 paired public education about social distancing due to COVID-1 with warnings that a new national Animal Protection Act taking effect in February 2021 will require all owners of pit bulls,  Rottweilers,  tosas, and other dog breeds officially deemed dangerous to be fully insured for any personal injuries or property damage their dogs may cause.

Reported Korea Bizwire,  “The government plans to come up with a follow-up enforcement ordinance to specify insurance coverage,  coverage limits,  and expiration dates,  and work with the insurance industry to release new insurance plans tailored for this policy.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Dangerous dogs must be leashed and muzzled

“Owners of dangerous dogs are required to keep their dogs with them at all times,”  Korea Bizwire continued.  “When going outdoors,  the dogs must be leashed and muzzled.

“They are also banned from entering daycare centers,  kindergartens, and elementary schools,  and owners are required to take a three-hour course on raising dangerous dogs through the [government] Animal Protection  Management System.”

Violators may be fined up to 3 million won,  amounting to $2,400 U.S.––and if a violation results in human injury,  may be jailed for two years or be fined up to the equivalent of $16,200 in U.S. dollars.

The effort to publicize the latest reinforcements of South Korean law pertaining to dangerous dogs came a year after two dog attacks in two days in April 2019 brought the mauling death of a 62-year-old woman at a nursing home in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province,   and the genital mauling of a 39-year-old man in Busan,  the second-largest city in South Korea after Seoul,  the national capital.

Rottweiler.  (Beth Clifton photo)

Fatality followed 2019 crackdown on “stunt” behavior

The 62-year-old woman was killed by one of two tosas kept on the nursing home premises by the nursing home director,  who was subsequently charged with negligent homicide.

The 29-year-old man was reportedly returning to an apartment house elevator after taking food remnants to a trash can,  when a leashed Old English sheepdog burst out of the elevator,  breaking away from the owner,  a 29-year-old woman.  She was charged with negligence resulting in human injury.

The April 2019 attacks came just three weeks after the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food,  & Rural Affairs on March 20,  2019 warned that it will not tolerate activities by advocates for dangerous dog breeds that put the public at risk.

Owners of pit bulls,  Rottweilers,  tosas,  and other designated dangerous breeds “will be banned from taking their dogs to education facilities,  such as daycare centers,  kindergartens,  and elementary schools,”  reported Kang Yoon-seung of Yonhap News,  the largest news agency serving South Korea.

(Beth Clifton collage)

$884 fine for showing off “service pit” in a schoolroom

“Other areas off limits to such animals will be announced by cities and provincial governments individually,”  Kang Yoon-seung explained.

Violations are to be penalized by fines of one million won for a first offense,  worth $884 in U.S. dollars.  The fines may triple for multiple offenses.

Also on March 20,  2019,  the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food,  & Rural Affairs introduced the new regulations,  now being publicized,  which “require owners of dog breeds known for aggressiveness to receive mandatory education on how to properly raise such pets,”  Kang Yoon-seung wrote.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Owners of “fierce dogs” must educate themselves

“The ministry categorizes Tosa,  American Pit Bull Terrier,  American Staffordshire Terrier,  Staffordshire Bull Terrier,  Rottweiler,  and other related mixed breeds as being fierce dogs,”  Kang Yoon-seung elaborated.

“Owners of such dogs need to complete education programs for three hours every year,  which can be carried out online.  The program will center on understanding the nature of fierce dogs, and ways to train them to behave.”

“Those abandoning fierce dogs can be fined up to 20 million won [$16,200 U.S.] or sentenced to up to two years in prison, the ministry added,”  Kang Yoon-seung said.  “This punishment is more severe than the three-million won [$2,400 U.S.] fine currently imposed on people who abandon regular dogs.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Three years if off-leash dog kills someone

The new penalties for allowing a dangerous dog to injure someone,  Kang Yoon-seung noted,  are substantially stronger than those previously in effect,  which “had a ceiling of a two-year prison term or fines of less than seven million won.”

The online training programs for owners of dangerous dogs are currently available only in Hangul,  the official language of both South and North Korea.

“The ministry has not yet prepared programs for foreigners residing in South Korea with such pets,”  Kang Yoon-seung finished.

Since the materials have not been published in English or other languages,  foreign owners of dangerous dogs might be unaware of the new requirements,  a South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food,  & Rural Affairs spokesperson acknowledged,  and even if aware,  might have difficulty complying with them.

(Beth Clifton collage)

“Fierce” dogs already banned by U.S. military

“We currently do not have data on the number of owners of such fierce dogs,  including foreigners,”  the spokesperson told Kang Yoon-seung.  “But,  if necessary,”  the spokesperson added, “we may prepare programs for foreigners in the future.”

The 28,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in South Korea are unlikely to be affected.  The U.S. Army and Marine Corps have banned pit bulls,  Rottweilers,  wolf hybrids,  Dobermans,  chows and their mixes from base housing since 2009.  The U.S. Air Force issued similar orders in 2011.

The U.S. Navy does not allow any pets on shipboard.  Regulation of pets in Navy housing ashore is left up to base commanders.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Serious bites quadrupled in five years

The South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food,  & Rural Affairs began moving to prevent proliferation of dangerous dog breeds after the Korea Consumer Agency reported that the number of serious dog bites nationwide had more than quadrupled from 245 in 2011 to 1,019 in 2016.

The Korea Consumer Agency turned out to have significantly understated the damage.  The National Fire Agency told the Korea Herald that 1,889 people had been transported to hospitals after dog attacks in in 2014,  and 2,111 in 2016.

(Julie-Edwards Matanga photo)

Running-at-large

South Korea,  like much of the developing world,  had historically taken a lenient attitude toward dogs running at large.  The chief penalty,  for most dog owners,  was the risk of losing a dog to dog meat bunchers,  an occupation fading over the past 30 years with declining demand for dog meat.

South Korea by 2017,  however,  had long since ceased to be either a developing nation or a largely agrarian society where––apart from the risk from dog meat bunchers––non-aggressive dogs could safely run loose.

Seoul Metropolitan Government data from 2016-2017 showed that of 2,027 cases of dogs found running at large in public spaces,  only 62 owners were cited.  That statistic,  in combination with indications that bigger and more dangerous dog breeds were coming into vogue,  prompted the South Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food, & Rural Affairs to act.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Victim lost leg;  pit bull owner got 18 months

The immediate catalysts included a December 2016 pit bull attack on a 70-plus-year-old woman and her small dog in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province.  The woman lost her right leg and several fingers.  The pit bull owner was in September 2017 sentenced to serve 18 months in jail.

The sentence was rendered coincidental with a four-dog mauling of a couple in their forties “while they were strolling in a park in North Gyeongsang Province,”  reported Korea Herald writer Kim Da-sol.

Choi Siwon and his French bulldog.
(Beth Clifton collage)

French bulldog & Jindo kill

Circa October 1,  2017,  a French bulldog belonging to K-pop boy band Super Junior member Choi Siwon ran out the open front door of the Siwon family apartment in Seoul,  while in custody of Choi Siwon’s father.  The French bulldog,  who had bite history,  raced into an elevator,  where he cornered and bit a 53-year-old woman,  surnamed Kim,  who with her sister owned the upscale Seoul restaurant Hanilkwan.

The woman died from septicemia several days later.

Amid the ensuing media tumult,  on October 5,  2017 a seven-year-old Jindo dog jumped over a two-foot baby fence to tear open the neck of a one-year-old child as the mother carried the child into the living room of their apartment in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.

Jindo.  (Beth Clifton collage)

“The mother rushed the baby to the hospital,  but she was pronounced dead four days after the attack.  The baby’s father,  to whom the dog originally belonged,  was not at home when the attack happened,”  reported Kim Min-joo of the Korean Herald.

Expanded list of dangerous breeds

The first round of governmental response,  announced in January 2018,  included expanding an existing list of restricted dangerous dog breeds from three to eight,  largely to intercept pit bulls masquerading under other names;  a five-fold increase of fines for dogs at large without collars or muzzles;  a potential three-year-jail term for owners whose dogs kill someone while running off leash;  and 20 cash rewards of about $95 paid per year to people who photograph dogs without a collar or muzzle in such a manner as to enable law enforcement to catch the owners.

The South Korean pet dog population was officially estimated at 1.6 million in 2015,  but has been unofficially put as high as 2.7 million,  a figure which appears to include dogs sold for slaughter.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Deaths per million dogs

The distinction between pet dogs and “meat dogs” has always been blurred,  because while some dogs are farmed specifically to be eaten,  the slaughter trade has historically been fed by strays caught running at large and sold by local dogcatchers;  culls from breeding to serve the pet trade;  and culled hunting and fighting dogs.

            The two 2017 fatalities meant that South Korea in 2017-2018 had a ratio of not worse than .7 human deaths per million dogs.

Beth & Merritt Clifton
(Anthony Marr photo)

The U.S. over the same two years had a ratio of .54 human deaths per million dogs,  overall,  but had 8.2 human deaths per million pit bulls,  compared to just .21 human deaths per million non-pits.

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