A horse has died 1 week after being abused during the filming of “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won”
Controversy is arising as a horse suspected of being abused while filming for “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won” is known to have died a week after filming the scene.
KBS apologized for the controversy over animal abuse.
On Jan 20th, KBS said they deeply felt responsible and apologized for the accident that occurred during the filming of “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won.” The accident occurred while filming a scene of Lee Sung-gye‘s fall in episode 7 of “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won” on November 2nd,” they said.
They then continued to explain, “Filming a falling scene is a very difficult shoot. This is because the horse’s safety is considered the basic and the safety of the actor on the horse as well as the staff filming it must also be considered. For this reason, the production team has been preparing and checking for possible accidents since a few days ago.”
“Despite these efforts, however, an accident occurred in which the actor fell far from the horse and the horse’s upper body hit the ground. Immediately after the accident, the horse woke up on its own and after we confirmed that there was no apparent injury, we sent the horse back. However, recently, there are many viewers who are worried about the horse’s condition, due to which we checked the horse’s health again, and unfortunately, it’s confirmed that the horse died about a week after the filming,” they said.
KBS said, “We have no choice but to take deep responsibility for the unfortunate occurrence. We would like to apologize again to the viewers for failing to prevent the accident and the unfortunate thing that had happened.”
KBS added, “Through this accident, it was confirmed that there was a problem with the method of filming a fall from a horse. Therefore, we will try to find other ways of filming and expressing so that such accidents do not happen again. In addition, we will find ways to ensure animals’ safety at filming sites through advice and cooperation from related organizations and experts. Once again, we sincerely apologize to viewers and those who love animals.”
Earlier, the Korean Animal Welfare Association claimed in a statement on Jan 19th that “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won” had abused horses during filming.
The scene in question is the scene in episode 7 where the main character Lee Seong-gye (played by Kim Yeong-cheol) falls while riding a horse.
Viewers raised the issue that the horse’s body was lifted at 90 degrees then fell to the floor, urging the production team to release an official statement about the horse’s current state and filming scenes.
The Korean Animal Welfare Association officially requested KBS to confirm the horse’s survival and safety as well as asked for an interview to prepare measures in order to ensure animals’ safety at filming sites in the future.
