World-famous soprano Jo Su-mi expressed her opinion on the controversy over animal cruelty that arose on the set of KBS 1TV’s ‘Taejong Lee Bang-won’, saying, “I think that animals are exploited in any way and even leading to death should be severely punished by law.”
On the 22nd, Sumi Jo posted a long post on her Instagram with the title, “My thoughts on death after the words ‘Taejong Lee Bang-won’ were abused”.
In the article, Jo Sumi said, “Every time I see a movie or drama featuring animal actors, I wait for a long time to film rather than a scene that shows the acting skills of a dog or a cat. Most of the time, I look at it with my heart pounding to see if I have been beaten or abused,” he said.
He continued, “A long time ago, when I was in Korea for a performance, when I tried to watch a historical drama on Korean TV, I could sometimes see scenes of dogs and cats being killed by superstition, but the scenes were so terrifying and cruel that I was shocked to see that they were not just scenes made with excellent video technology. There have been times when I have done it,” he said.
Jo Sumi said that she expects big changes in Korea in the future in ‘prevention of cruelty to life and proper protection and management of animals’. “Through this case, a media policy (guideline) should be created and applied to all broadcast appearances when animals appear on TV through this case. emphasized.
He also said, “Although we have risen to the ranks of advanced countries due to rapid economic development, it takes time for citizens’ awareness and culture to grow. Even if we can live well in a day, the sophistication of culture and consciousness is very slowly due to ‘education and environment’. Because it changes,” he said, emphasizing the need to change the way we look at animals.
In addition, Jo Sumi said, “‘A person who is cruel to animals is the same when dealing with other people, and a person’s character can be seen by the way he treats animals,’ said Oscar Wilde. ,” he added, expressing his regret once again.
Earlier, on the 19th, the Animal Freedom Association raised the issue in a statement saying that the production team of ‘Taejong Lee Bang-won’ was filming using horses, and that animal cruelty took place.
The scene that the Animal Freedom Association raised the issue was the scene where Lee Seong-gye fell off a horse while riding a horse in the 7th episode of ‘Taejong Lee Bang-won’, which was broadcast on the 1st. In this scene, the body of the horse turned upside down about 90 degrees and the head plunged to the floor was broadcast as it was.
In response, KBS issued an apology on the 20th, saying, “I deeply feel responsible for the accident that occurred during filming and I apologize.” KBS said, “An accident occurred while filming the falling horse scene of Lee Seong-gye (Kim Young-cheol), which aired on the 7th episode of ‘Taejong Lee Bang-won’ on November 2 last year. We were prepared for an accident, but during the actual filming, the actor fell far from the horse and the horse’s upper body hit the ground.”
He continued, “After confirming that the horse had risen on its own immediately after the accident and that there were no apparent injuries, the horse was sent back, but recently, as viewers’ concerns about the condition of the horse grew, we checked the horse’s health again, unfortunately, about a week after filming. Afterwards, we confirmed that the horse died.” “We cannot but take a deep responsibility for such an unfortunate incident, and we apologize again to the viewers for not being able to prevent an accident and an unfortunate incident.” added.
However, despite the apology, criticism of ‘Taejong Lee Bang-won’ continued, and KBS finally decided to cancel the broadcast on the 22nd and 23rd and is discussing the future schedule.
(Seoul = News 1)