Animal abusers could face bans on keeping animals for up to five years under bill

A new legal basis for preventing convicted animal abusers from keeping animals is taking shape in South Korea. The National Assembly’s Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock, Food, Marine and Fisheries Committee recently approved a revised Animal Protection Act centered on an “animal-keeping prohibition order.”

The bill combines six proposals introduced by lawmakers Park Hong-keun, Han Jeong-ae, Song Jae-bong, Cho Eun-hee, Kim Geon and Han Ji-a. Under the measure, a court could prohibit a person deemed at risk of repeating animal abuse from owning, keeping or caring for animals for between one and five years.

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Preventing people who have abused animals from keeping animals again and repeating the abuse is a basic function that an animal-protection system should have.

Anyone who violates the order by keeping or managing an animal again could face up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 10 million won. In such cases, ownership of the animal would pass to a local government.

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The bill is highly meaningful because it fills an institutional gap and establishes a practical legal basis for restricting animal abusers from keeping animals.

The bill also addresses what happens while an animal-abuse case is still moving through court. If a suspect is indicted, a local government could isolate and protect the animal before a final judgment, while maintaining the presumption of innocence. Under the current system, animals can be temporarily removed from an abuser, but the person may recover them after a period if they pay the protection costs.

The Animal Welfare National Assembly Forum and animal-protection groups welcomed the committee’s approval. They said the measure would fill a gap in a system that, since the Animal Protection Act was enacted in 1991, has lacked an effective way to restrict abusers’ access to animals. They also urged the National Assembly to pass the bill quickly without weakening its purpose.

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The bill could mark an important turning point in South Korea’s animal-protection system because it can prevent further harm by restricting abusers’ access to and keeping of animals.