In 2018, South Korean President Moon received two dogs from North Korean ruler Kim as a sign of rapprochement. The politician raises her, but after the end of his term in office there is a fight. Because Songgang and Gomi are popular, but nobody wants to pay for them.
The two hunting dogs given to former South Korean President Moon Jae-in by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are now being cared for in a zoo in Seoul. The South Korean media reports. A bizarre child support dispute in South Korea after the end of Moon’s term in office has thus reached a temporary climax. The politician had already declared in November that he would separate from the two dogs because of the lack of government subsidies.
Moon received the two Pungsan dogs Songgang and Gomi in September 2018 after a summit meeting with Kim in the North Korean capital Pyongyang as a sign of rapprochement. During his tenure, he raised her on the grounds of the Presidential Palace in Seoul. However, according to South Korean law, gifts received by public officials, including the President, during their term of office are state property.
Before Moon handed over official duties to his elected successor Yoon Suk Yeol in May, it was contractually agreed with the responsible presidential archive that he could continue to look after the animals and their offspring at state expense. For this, Moon should receive the equivalent of 1,800 euros a month in maintenance. However, the contract was never implemented due to resistance from the interior and justice ministries, it was later said in the South Korean media. A little later, the dogs were handed over to a veterinary clinic in the southern city of Daegu.
For the time being, they will now live in the city of Gwangju. “Gomi and Songgang are symbols of the rapprochement between South Korea and North Korea,” Mayor Kang Gijung said when she was introduced to journalists in a park. “We will raise them like a seed of peace.”
Pungsan dogs are hunting dogs with a thick, creamy white coat and pointed ears. The breed is originally from the Pungsan region of North Korea.
