KBS’s “Tears of the Dragon” is suspected of putting a deer under anesthesia and throwing it around during filming
While KBS acknowledged and apologized for the animal abuse case in the historical drama “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won,” other historical dramas in the past are also being reexamined one by one.
While KBS acknowledged and apologized for the animal abuse case in the historical drama “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won,” other related cases that occurred in historical dramas in the past are also being reexamined one by one. On Jan 21st, a scene from the drama “Tears of the Dragon” (1996-1998) is being spread online, sparking controversy.
This scene appears in episode 25 of the series. Actor Yoo Dong-geun (playing as Lee Bang-won) throws a deer harshly at actor Kim Young-ran (playing as Queen Seondeok). At that time, the deer was reportedly anesthetized. Kim Young-ran also released an episode related to this scene on a broadcast in October 2008. She said, “At that time, a deer was used as a prop. Until the rehearsal, we used other objects instead of a real deer, so I didn’t know at all until the real recording.”
“The shooting began, and a real deer appeared. Yoo Dong-geun appeared with a deer on his shoulder, and it seemed that the deer was even bigger than me. I was surprised at the moment when he put the deer in front of my table,” she confessed. Kim Young-ran also said she had shed tears on the set after filming. She said, “I even cried because I was so angry that they didn’t tell me in advance,” adding, “The production team deliberately didn’t show me beforehand to surprise me more.”
“The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won” was embroiled in allegations of animal abuse in one of its episodes which was aired on Jan 1st. Afterward, the Korean Animal Welfare Association released a video of the filming site on its official SNS and revealed that “the production team deliberately knocked down the horse using wires.”
As the controversy over animal abuse grew, KBS, the series’ broadcaster, apologized on Jan 20th, saying, “We deeply feel responsible for the accident that took place during the filming of ‘The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won’.” However, criticism is still growing as the horse which was knocked down for filming at the time was confirmed to have died 1 week after the shoot.
