SEOUL, Jan. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s climate and environment authorities said Thursday they will begin formally managing insects that appear in large numbers in urban areas, responding to a rise in outbreaks linked to climate change. The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced that so-called “urban mass-occurrence insects,” including the red-backed lovebug, will [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — A long-delayed redevelopment project in northern Seoul, once known as the city’s last remaining daldongne — or hillside shantytown — will proceed as planned after a court rejected a request to halt construction over concerns about stray animals. The Seoul Northern District Court recently dismissed an injunction filed by a [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — Efforts to return Bella, a captive beluga whale housed at Lotte World Aquarium, to the wild may no longer be realistically achievable, according to members of an expert advisory panel, deepening one of South Korea’s most contentious animal welfare debates. At least three of four external members of the aquarium’s [...]
SEOUL, Jan. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — As South Korea prepared to welcome 2026, the Year of the Red Horse, an unsettling debate emerged within the country’s horse industry: whether euthanasia for retired racehorses has become unavoidable. At a closed-door meeting last month near Gwangmyeong Station, officials and experts from the Ministry of Agriculture, the Korea Racing [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is set to fully ban its decades-old controversial practice of bear bile farming next year, according to officials Wednesday, although about 200 bears are still in captivity. Since 1981, South Korea has allowed the import and breeding of bears in an effort to boost income for farmers [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 29 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is on track to end dog meat farming nationwide by early 2027, as the vast majority of dog-breeding operations have already shut down following the implementation of a landmark ban, government data showed this week. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said on Sunday that about [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 23 (Korea Bizwire) — Animal rights organizations in South Korea have filed a constitutional complaint against a revised wildlife law that allows local governments to ban the feeding of pigeons, arguing that the measure amounts to state-sanctioned animal cruelty. At a news conference on Monday outside the Constitutional Court in Seoul, activists from CARE, [...]
BUSAN, Dec. 2 (Korea Bizwire) — A flock of whooper swans — a protected natural monument and winter migratory species — was again seen being driven off its habitat by a fishing boat and leisure vessels in the Nakdong River estuary in Busan, a designated cultural heritage protection zone and major bird sanctuary. According to the [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A parrot rescued after sneaking sips of customers’ coffee at a café in Seoul has yet to be claimed by its owner more than a week after it was found, raising the likelihood that the endangered bird will be transferred to a state-run wildlife protection center. Related: Endangered Amazon Parrot Found [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — By mid-afternoon on a gray November day in Seoul, the Yeongdeungpo Police Station received the kind of call that sounds like a prank until an officer has to write it down: A parrot is drinking my coffee. When officers arrived at the small neighborhood café in Yangpyeong-dong, they found the [...]