The Peninsula

Presidential Puppies in the Blue House

By Juni Kim

South Korean President Moon Jae-in garnered attention last week with the announcement of the newest presidential resident, a rescue dog named Tory. President Moon adopted the four year old dog from the group Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth (CARE), an activist organization which campaigns against the consumption of dog meat in Asia. In addition to Tory, President Moon already has two other pets, a rescue cat named “Jjing-jjing” and a Poongsan dog named “Maru.”

In a post on the Blue House’s Facebook page, President Moon encouraged other Koreans to adopt rescue animals, stating, “About one million animals find new owners, but 300,000 are abandoned each year. We need to pay more attention to abandoned animals and care for them as a society.”

The Blue House has a long tradition of presidential pets, with many past presidents showing a preference for Korean dog breeds. The graphic below shows some of the previous pet tenants that have provided company and friendship for South Korean presidents.

Juni Kim is the Program Manager and Executive Assistant at the Korea Economic Institute of America. Hwan Kang, an intern at KEI, made contributions to this article. The views expressed here are the author’s alone.  

Graphic created by Juni Kim. Image from Korea.net.