A pair of dogs donated by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018 are now embroiled in a South Korean political dispute, with the country’s former president accusing his conservative successor of a lack of financial support as he gave up the animals. Moon Jae-in, a liberal who left office in May, received the two white “Pungsan” hunting dogs — a breed known to be native to North Korea — from Kim after the peace summit in capital of North Korea Pyongyang in September 2018. The dogs are officially considered government property, but Moon took the couple and one of their seven offspring home after he left the office. The move was made possible by a law change in March that allowed presidential gifts to be handled outside the Presidential Archives if they were animals or plants. But Moon’s office on Monday said it decided it could no longer raise the three dogs because the current administration of President Yoon Suk-yeol was refusing to cover the costs of feeding and veterinary care for the animals. The Ministry of Home Affairs and Security said the dogs were returned to the government on Tuesday and that the parent dogs originally sent by Kim were being examined at a veterinary hospital in the city of Daegu. In a statement released on Facebook, Moon’s office accused Yun’s office of “inexplicably” blocking the ministry’s proposal to provide state funds for the animal’s care. The ministry confirmed it had drawn up a budget plan to provide monthly subsidies of 2.5 million won ($1,810), including 500,000 won ($360) for dog food and veterinary care and 2 million ($1,450) for hiring workers to care for them. their. However, the ministry said the plans had been put on hold for months due to unspecified “opposing views” from the ministry and the Department of Government Legislation. “It appears that the presidential office, unlike the Presidential Archives and the Ministry of Home Affairs and Security, has a negative view of entrusting the care of the Pungsan dogs to former President Moon,” Moon’s office said. If that is the case, Yoon’s government should be “cool” about ending that assignment, Moon’s office said. “There would be disappointment and regret as they were (Moon) companion animals that they became attached to, but there would be no way to refuse to terminate the assignment,” it said. Yoon’s office shifted the blame to Moon, saying he never prevented him from keeping the animals and that discussions about providing financial support were still ongoing. “It was entirely former President Moon Jae-in’s decision to return the Pungsan dogs to the Presidential Archives” rather than wait for a legislative amendment to secure the subsidies, Yoon’s office said. Moon and Yoon’s spat about the dogs sparked criticism online, with users lamenting that the animals were only treated as property. Staking his one-term presidency on inter-Korean rapprochement, Moon met Kim three times in 2018 and lobbied hard to help arrange Kim’s meetings with former US President Donald Trump. But diplomacy has never recovered from the collapse of the second Kim-Trump meeting in 2019 in Vietnam, where the Americans rejected North Korea’s demands for major sanctions relief in exchange for dismantling an aging nuclear facility, which would amount to a partial surrender of nuclear capabilities. Kim has since vowed to strengthen his nuclear deterrent to counter “gangster” US pressure and accelerate his weapons development despite limited resources and pandemic-related difficulties. The North has launched dozens of missiles this year, using the distraction created by Russia’s war in Ukraine to ramp up weapons development and increase pressure on the United States and its regional allies.
