A scene which allegedly involved animal abuse was aired in the KBS drama The King of Tears, Yi Bang-won (Taejong Yi Bang-won), leading to a petition on the Cheongwadae National Petition website demanding an end to broadcasting dramas that treat animals like props. It was confirmed that the horse died a week after the accident. People are calling for the need to establish guidelines to resolve the issue of animal cruelty in filming TV shows.

On January 19, the Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) and the Korean Animal Welfare Association (KAWA) pointed out on social medial a scene from the TV drama The King of Tears, Yi Bang-won, which allegedly involved animal abuse. The scene was aired on January 1, and it portrayed the actor playing Yi Seong-gye falling from a horse. In the scene, the horse’s body rose straight up at nearly a 90-degree angle from the ground and crashed head-first into the ground. KARA argued, “If you look at the scene closely, it appears they tied the horse’s legs with a wire and pulled.”

On January 20, the Korean Animal Welfare Association disclosed a video of the staff shooting the scene, which was in line with KARA’s argument. The video showed the horse tied to a tree and a number of people grabbing the long rope. The galloping horse was caught by the rope, toppled head-first to the ground and was unable to get up for nearly six seconds before the video ended. The Animal Welfare Association said, “When forcing the horse to fall, they forced it to crash so severely that it had to endure intense physical suffering. The scene was shot in a dangerous way, and we believe the actor could also have suffered injuries.” The horse died a week after shooting the scene.

This day, a person posted a petition on the Cheongwadae National Petition website demanding that the drama stop being aired and seeking punishment for those responsible. The person who launched the petition said, “The horse that crashed into the ground was alone and showed no signs of movement for quite a while, and the status of the horse has yet to be confirmed.” She further demanded, “Stop the broadcast of the drama, which treats animals like props for a one-second cut, and punish those responsible.”

Animals in films and TV are still treated as props. According to a survey of 157 film and TV crews in “No Animal Was Harmed: The Media Guideline on Animals in Film” released by KARA in 2020, 59% of the staff said animals suffered high levels of stress on shooting sites. Thirteen percent of the respondents answered that an animal had died or been injured due to an accident while shooting, and 8% said they had witnessed or experienced the intentional killing or harming of an animal. They used a stun gun to stop a horse and broke the legs of a bird to stop it from flying too far away.

Such acts are labeled as “abusive acts” according to the Animal Protection Act. The Animal Protection Act stipulates “inflicting an injury upon an animal for the purpose of gambling, advertising, amusement, or entertainment” as an abusive act and states punishment of up to two years in prison or a maximum fine of 20 million won when people violate this law. The Korean Animal Welfare Association sent an official notice to KBS asking to verify the status of the horse--whether it was alive and if so, how safe it was. They also requested an interview demanding the broadcasting company to put in place measures to guarantee the safety of animals during the shooting process. Jung Jin-ah, head of social change at the Association said, “If we confirm that the horse suffered an injury or died, we will report them for violating the Animal Protection Act.”

People are calling for the need to establish guidelines to secure the safety of animals during filming. The media guideline presented by KARA bans the use of devices or drugs to manipulate the gait of an animal when shooting horses and other domestic animals. It also states, “When a large number of horses are required as in the set of historical dramas, a horse-related staff must be present to oversee the shooting.” Jeon Jin-kyung, head of KARA said, “They are taking advantage of the fact that animals can’t talk and that no one advocates their rights and using them as tools to shoot provocative scenes and to attract more viewers.” She further argued, “We need to establish a guideline and have the staff accept it as a minimum standard at all production sites.”

KBS released a statement on January 20 and said, “After the accident, the horse got up on its own, and we returned the horse after confirming that there were no external injuries. However, when we checked the health of the horse again recently, we confirmed that it had died about a week after the shooting.” The broadcasting company further said, “We will seek another way to shoot the scenes and look for other ways of expression to prevent the recurrence of a similar accident,” and added, “We will look for ways to guarantee the safety of the animals on various filming sites with the advice and cooperation of relevant organizations and experts.”