Ko So-young, Kim Hyo-jin and Gong Hyo-jin publicly criticized “The King Of Tears, Lee Bang-won” due to the horse abuse incident

From Ko So-young to Gong Hyo-jin, top stars are voicing their criticism over the horse abuse case in KBS1’s historical drama “The King Of Tears, Lee Bang-won.”     

Ko So-young posted the capture of a scene in “The King Of Tears, Lee Bang-won” where a horse fell on her SNS on the 20th, saying, “That’s too much. I feel sorry for him.”

On the same day, Kim Hyo-jin also shared a post by Kara, an animal rights activist who criticizes the production team of “The King Of Tears, Lee Bang-won”. She also added, “This is really terrible. It is said that the actor was also injured, and the horse eventually died. I hope the stunt actor recover as soon as possible.” Upon seeing Kim Hyo-jin’s post, Gong Hyo-jin said, “It hurts me so much.” In response, Kim Hyo-jin drew attention by replying, “It’s really shocking.”

Park Sung-kwang expressed his anger in the comments after watching the video of the horse falling in “The King Of Tears, Lee Bang-won” obtained by animal rights activist Kara. Park Sung-kwang said in the comment section of this post, “I don’t think this is right. I don’t think this outdated filming technique is right.”

Jeong Seon-ah reposted an article by the Korean Animal Welfare Association calling for participation in a national petition to demand an establishment of the animal safety security standards. She then said, “Is this something you can do to an animal who cannot speak? I’m really scared,” she added.

Upon seeing Jung Sun-ah’s post, Ivy responded, “It’s so shocking.” Jo Kwon also expressed his terrible feeling with a sigh, “Ha.”  Celebrities with great influence have also joined voicing criticisms against the production team of “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won”, giving the sign of a prolonged controversy over animal abuse related to the drama.

On January 19th, suspicions of “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won” production team abusing horses were raised. The Korean Animal Welfare Association said, “In episode 7 of ‘The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won’, the main character Lee Sung-gye (Kim Young-chul) fell off while riding a horse, and the horse’s body was turned over about 90 degrees, and its head hit the ground”, adding, “We also want to express great concern that the horse appeared on the broadcast might have been seriously injured”.

On January 20th, the production crew of “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won” released a video showing how they filmed the ‘falling down’ scene. They explained, “When we filmed the scene in which the horse was knocked down, it was true that we tied a wire to the horse’s leg and made it fall down forcibly. In the process of forcibly knocking down the horse using a wire in the video, the horse fell down so badly, causing a big strain on its body. The actor who fell together with the horse seems to have also been injured due to the dangerous filming method.”

Public opinion worsened and became out of control. Eventually, KBS apologized, “Immediately after the accident, the horse woke up on its own. After we confirmed that there was no apparent injury, we sent it back. However, knowing the viewers’ concern about the horse’s condition has recently grown, we went to check the horse’s healthy condition again. Unfortunately, it was confirmed that the horse died about a week after the filming. We have no choice but to take deep responsibility for this sad accident. We apologize to the viewers for failing to prevent accidents and unfortunate occurrences.”

After that, the Korea Animal Rights Advocates (KARA) sent to KBS and the production company the guidelines for animals’ safety in filming. It was also revealed that they had filed a complaint with the police against the person who was in charge of the filming site of “The King of Tears, Lee Bang-won”. They emphasized, “Public broadcaster KBS, which is operated on the TV license fees from the viewers, should not conclude this situation at the level of “unfortunate event” through an apology only. Apart from taking legal responsibility for animal abuse, KBC should make practical efforts to prepare specific guidelines to guarantee animals’ safety in filming in the future.”