A Plea for Compassion: Protect Chained Dogs from Burning Alive in South Korean Wildfires (Sister City: Incheon & Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
Despite the 2023 revision of South Korea’s Animal Protection Act — which set a two-meter minimum tether length — lifelong tethering remains legal, widespread, and profoundly inhumane. A two-meter chain offers no real freedom or dignity. Across the country, dogs endure short chains, filth, harsh weather, and utter neglect. Treated as tools or property, their suffering is normalized, hidden, and ignored.
The devastating wildfires of March 2025 once again exposed the full horror of this systemic neglect. Countless dogs, permanently chained or caged, were abandoned during evacuations — left to burn alive in agony. This was not just a failure of disaster response — it was a moral and ethical failure of society as a whole.
In response, South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) issued the “Manual for the Rescue and Protection of Companion Animals During Natural Disasters” in May 2025. We recognize and commend this step as an important milestone: the manual acknowledges companion animals as family members, outlines roles for government agencies, and promotes local emergency planning and public awareness. However, the manual is non-binding. It does not mandate the evacuation of animals, nor does it address or prohibit the practice of lifelong tethering.
As KoreanDogs.org and many allied organizations have emphasized, true protection requires more than suggestions. Real change requires legally enforceable action and accountability.
We therefore call on the South Korean government to enact urgent and meaningful reforms:
• Ban lifelong tethering nationwide. This cruel and outdated practice causes ongoing physical and psychological suffering and must end.
• Mandate companion animal evacuation by law during all declared emergencies. No animal should ever be left behind to burn, drown, starve, or freeze.
• Prosecute abandonment and cruelty with severe, consistent penalties, especially during disasters when the consequences are often fatal.
• Require local governments to develop and implement enforceable animal disaster plans, with oversight and accountability.
We also urge Sister and Friendship Cities around the world to take a principled stand. These partnerships must not overlook the suffering and destruction caused by inadequate animal protection laws in South Korea. We ask global partners to raise their voices: urge your counterparts in South Korea to legislate lasting reforms, including a ban on tethering and mandatory evacuation protocols for all companion animals.
This is a pivotal moment. The world is watching. South Korea can choose compassion and leadership, or remain complicit in avoidable cruelty.
Let us demand change — together.
KOREANDOGS.ORG
Homepage: https://koreandogs.org/
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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” -Mahatma Gandhi
“한 국가의 위대함과 도덕성은 그 나라의 동물들이 어떻게 대우받고 있는지를 보면 알 수 있다.” -마하트마 간디
