END DOGS BURNING ALIVE: Demand Marina Condemn Cruelty in Sister City, Namwon, Korea!

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The Issue

Find more ways to help: https://koreandogs.org/a-plea-for-compassion-Namwon-Marina/

END DOGS BURNING ALIVE: Demand Marina Condemn Cruelty in Sister City, Namwon, Korea!

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.

Even more alarmingly, countless dogs are kept in isolation—chained at fields, orchards, factories, or warehouses, far from human care. Labeled as tools, not pets, they are denied legal protection and left exposed to extreme weather and deadly disasters, unable to escape. This is not mere neglect—it’s institutionalized cruelty. If people won’t protect them, the law must.

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 This cruel and outdated practice causes ongoing physical and psychological suffering and must end.
• Ban the remote, solitary confinement of dogs—isolated from human residences, care, and companionship. No dog should be forced to live out its life alone and unprotected, treated as a disposable tool.
• 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, isolated keeping, 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.

Video: Charles, a dog who miraculously escaped a wildfire after being severely burned across his entire body, including inside his mouth, is now receiving intensive care and showing remarkable resilience despite his horrific injuries. Tragically, Charles witnessed his friend, tied next to him, burn to death. https://youtu.be/AOc67Uqjlz4 https://koreandogs.org/charles/

Video: Bbibbi, a young puppy barely a year old, was found clinging to life—scorched by flames, her mouth burned shut, and her eyes lost—after being left chained to a piece of metal farm equipment as a wildfire tore through her village in South Korea. Her owner had days to intervene but abandoned her to burn alive. Bbibbi’s suffering is more than a personal tragedy—it reveals a profound crisis of empathy, where far too many still view dogs not as sentient beings but as property, tools, or disposable burdens. This callous mindset is sustained by weak animal protection laws that allow lifelong tethering and fail to recognize animals as lives worth defending. https://koreandogs.org/bbibbi/ https://youtu.be/7vZE_P_wGho

PETITION:

Urgent Appeal to Marina: Help End Tethering and Remote Solitary Confinement of Dogs in Sister City Namwon, South Korea

Dear Mayor Bruce Carlos Delgado and Esteemed Representatives of Marina,

I write with deep urgency and a heartfelt plea for your compassionate leadership. In Namwon, South Korea—your Sister City—countless dogs are suffering in silence due to the systemic cruelty of lifelong tethering and remote, solitary confinement.

Across South Korea, dogs—often called “field dogs”—are chained alone in remote fields, orchards, warehouses, and even fish farms at sea. Labeled as “guard dogs,” they are in reality powerless to protect anything—not even themselves. Bound by short chains with little to no shelter or care, they endure scorching heat, bitter cold, hunger, and fear. When fires, floods, or other disasters strike, these animals are left to die horrific deaths, unable to escape. This is not a cultural tradition—it is cruelty that has been tolerated and overlooked for far too long.

These “field dogs” are not treated as living beings in need of protection, but as disposable property. This is not merely neglect—it is institutionalized cruelty, enabled by a legal loophole that allows owners to deny animals basic protection simply by asserting they are not “companion animals.”

Although South Korea recently issued a Manual for the Rescue and Protection of Companion Animals During Natural Disasters (May 2025), it carries no legal force. Lifelong tethering is still legal, and there are no enforceable requirements mandating that animals be evacuated or protected during emergencies.

This is a moral crisis—and it is unfolding in your Sister City.

We have joined a growing national campaign urging the South Korean government to ban the remote confinement and tethering of dogs. It is time to end the abandonment of animals in places far from human care. If people cannot be their guardians, then the law must become their protector.

As a global city with a meaningful relationship with Namwon, Marina has a rare opportunity to influence real change. I respectfully urge you to take the following actions:

1. Publicly denounce the cruelty of lifelong tethering and the abandonment of animals during disasters. Silence allows systemic suffering to continue.

2. Contact your counterparts in Namwon and urge them to support national legislation banning the remote confinement of dogs and mandating animal evacuation protocols.

3. Advocate for comprehensive reforms in South Korea including:

A complete ban on lifelong tethering and remote confinement
Legally binding evacuation and protection measures for animals during emergencies
Real penalties for abandonment and neglect
Public education campaigns promoting empathy and responsible care

4. Extend Marina’s hand in partnership by offering support through humane disaster planning, policy exchange, and public messaging that elevates the meaning of international friendship.

Please take a moment to see the faces behind this tragedy (warning: deeply disturbing content):

Legal reform is the only true path to ending this cruelty. While South Korea’s recent efforts are a step forward, only strong, enforceable laws can save countless lives and demonstrate true compassion. As leaders of Namwon’s Sister City, your voice matters more than you know. Please use it to speak for these forgotten animals. A global petition is growing: https://c.org/xqMpBHrBpJ Let this be the moment when Marina’s relationship with Namwon becomes a force for meaningful change—not only for people, but for the loyal animals who suffer unseen, tethered, and forgotten.

With deep respect, urgency, and hope for your leadership,

Photo: The barbaric practice of lifelong tethering, often with chains under three feet, condemns countless animals to chronic suffering and leaves them defenseless during disasters. In South Korea, repeated wildfires have tragically resulted in the horrific, agonizing immolation of tethered dogs, burned alive and unable to escape the flames. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/hotkDKh8Ii8

KoreanDogs.org TeamPetition StarterKoreanDogs.org

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