Gominjeong Criticizes "Pet Dog Lee Support Declaration Relay" as "Exploitation of Animal Politics"

Gominjeong "My pet dog supports Lee Jae-myung"
Opposition "Only use animals during elections and abandon them" criticism
"Animals have no ruling or opposition party... Political fights should stop"

An image posted by Representative Ko Min-jung on Facebook claiming that a pet declared support for Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate./Photo by Rep. Ko's Facebook capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Kang Juhee] Go Minjung, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea and co-chair of the Animal Rights Committee of the Election Countermeasures Committee, has started a 'Pet Support Relay for Candidate Lee Jae-myung,' which has drawn criticism mainly from opposition parties. The relay involves pets, instead of their owners, declaring support for Candidate Lee, leading to accusations that animals are being inappropriately used for politics and elections.

On the 1st, Go posted on her Facebook that she was starting the 'Pet Support Declaration Relay,' stating, "Six pets, including Haengboki and Moka, have made the first support declarations." Haengboki and Moka are presumed to be the pets of owners who support Candidate Lee.

Go also uploaded images featuring photos of the pets. The images included the pets' names, ages, and reasons for supporting Candidate Lee. A pet named 'Dubu' stated the reason for support as, "I believe Candidate Lee will fulfill his animal-related pledges because I saw his pledge fulfillment rate when he was Mayor of Seongnam and Governor of Gyeonggi Province."

Go said, "(The pets') reasons for supporting Candidate Lee vary, including 'because he is a true worker who cares about animal suffering' and 'for more dog playgrounds,'" adding, "Please leave support declaration messages including your pet's #photo #name #reason for support via the link. These will be posted on the Animal Rights Committee's social networking services (SNS)."

Ko Min-jung, Member of the Democratic Party of Korea./Photo by Yonhap News

In response, opposition parties immediately voiced criticism. Park Minyoung, a youth aide of the People Power Party, wrote on her Facebook, "The People Power Party does not 'use' and abandon animals only during elections like Candidate Lee Jae-myung and Representative Go Minjung," adding, "Before showing off that you received a support declaration from the new Haengboki, how about visiting the Haengboki of Gyeonggi Province first?"

The 'Haengboki' mentioned by Park is a stray dog adopted by Seongnam City from the animal protection group 'KARA' when Candidate Lee was Mayor of Seongnam in 2014. Later, when Candidate Lee was elected Governor of Gyeonggi Province in 2018, controversy arose because he did not bring Haengboki along, leading to accusations of abandonment.

Regarding this, Candidate Lee explained on Facebook at the time, "The adoption of the stray dog Haengboki was done by Seongnam City, not by the mayor personally. I wanted to bring Haengboki to Gyeonggi Province, but since it was not personal property, it was not a simple matter." Subsequently, Seongnam City Hall returned Haengboki to KARA, and Haengboki is currently known to have been adopted by a new guardian.

Among some netizens, there were also criticisms that the pet support relay was inappropriate. Netizens responded with comments such as, "It's not the dog supporting, but the owner supporting, so what is this about?", "They are using pets arbitrarily for elections and politics," and "I understand it's an event to increase attention, but it seems like a joke."

Experts suggested that while it is positive for presidential candidates to present various animal-related pledges, it is important to prepare policies that can practically strengthen animal rights.

A representative A from an animal protection organization said, "It is welcome that various animal pledges are coming out from the political sphere and that there is interest. The pet support declaration relay seemed to be an attempt to promote animal-related pledges and show differentiation from other candidates," adding, "However, it is not good for animals to be used in political battles. Animals do not have ruling or opposition parties," he said. He continued, "Currently, the animal welfare policies of presidential candidates are mostly focused on pets. There is a need to consider policies targeting various animals such as wildlife and farm animals as well."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.