Yoon, Moon squabble over who let the dogs down

Social Affairs

Published: 09 Nov. 2022, 18:55 Updated: 10 Nov. 2022, 18:17

Yoon, Moon squabble over who let the dogs down

Songkang, left, and Gomi, right, North Korean indigenous Pungsans that were given to former South Korean President Moon Jae-in by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in 2018 [YONHAP]

Former President Moon Jae-in gave up two dogs presented to him by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, blaming the Yoon Suk-yeol administration for not coughing up the money to look after them.

Moon’s aides announced Tuesday that the former president decided to hand over Songkang and Gomi – two indigenous North Korean Pungsan breeds – to the South Korean Presidential Archives.

The dogs were transferred Tuesday and were hospitalized at a veterinary hospital in Daegu for medical checkups.

Future plans for the dogs were not revealed.

Songkang, a male, and Gomi, a female, were gifts to Moon from Kim when the South Korean president visited Pyongyang from Sept. 18 to 20, 2018 for their third summit. The dogs were supposed to be a symbol of long-lasting friendship.

After Yoon succeeded Moon as president, questions arose about the dogs' fate. Moon’s aides told local reporters that the ex-president wanted to keep the dogs but that they were costing him a lot of money – nearly 2.5 million won ($1,800) per month.

Moon’s aides said they were talking with the Presidential Archives and the Ministry of the Interior and Safety about revising an enforcement ordinance of the Presidential Records Management Act to allow Moon to get state funds to care for the dogs.

According to Moon’s aides, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced that the revised enforcement ordinance would soon go into effect, but “for some unknown reason,” Yoon's presidential office “turned it down.”

No progress was made for the following six months, Moon’s aides said in a statement this week. “It must be due to the presidential office’s objection,” the statement read.

The seven dogs that Gomi and another dog that Moon owned gave birth to in 2018. All but six were given away. One is still owned by Moon. [NEWS1]

By law, all living creatures and lifeless objects given to the president during his or her term belongs to the state as part of the Presidential Archives. But a revised law that went into effect earlier this year dictates that a former president can take care of the living creatures even after leaving office.

Moon’s aides said they were dumbfounded by the Yoon administration’s “ill intentions” to make a big deal out of “something so petty.”

Moon was said to have been “saddened” by the fact that he had to say goodbye to the dogs and expressed a hope that the Presidential Archives would take good care of them.

Yoon’s office denied that they dillydallied on the legislative process, saying that it was the former president who refused to wait. Moon’s decision to give the dogs up has “nothing” to do with Yoon’s office and is all the former president's fault, Yoon’s office stressed.

Yoon’s People Power Party slammed Moon for giving the dogs up, saying he was abandoning them.

BY LEE SUNG-EUN [lee.sungeun@joongang.co.kr]