"The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won" in Controversy for Animal Abuse

KBS1's epic drama "The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won" has been embroiled in controversy over animal abuse.

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The Animal Freedom Solidarity released a video of the filming site on social media on the 20th, saying, "We confirmed that when they filmed the actor falling from the horse in the drama "The King of Tears, Lee Bang Won", they tied a wire to the horse's leg and forcibly knocked it down".

The video showed a horse carrying a male actor running across the trees. A white line is tied to the horse's front leg. When several staff pulled this string, the horse's body was lifted nearly 90 degrees from the floor and its head plummeted to the floor.

The horse stopped moving while kicking the ground with his head buried in the ground as if in pain. Along with the cut sign, three staff members ran to the actor who fell off the horse. However, everyone only checked the actor's condition and did not look at the horse's condition.

The Animal Freedom Solidarity said, "The condition of the horse has not yet been confirmed", adding, "We officially asked KBS to confirm the survival and safety of the horse, and we asked for an interview at the filming site to prepare measures to ensure animal safety".

"We can't help but be surprised that the filming of Korean public broadcasters in 2022 is taking place in this way. The scene of forcibly knocking down a horse is obvious animal abuse", it criticized.

Cho Hee-kyung, CEO of the Animal Freedom Solidarity, said, "We strongly condemn KBS's retrograde attitude of treating animals as 'props' for broadcasting", adding, "KBS Code of Ethics should come up with practical rules to ensure animal safety when filming broadcasts featuring animals".

In this regard, KBS said, "We delivered the related information to the production team and we are checking the progress of the filming at the time".